Every Thirty Minutes
http://goo.gl/IEZ2N
- 250,000 Indian farmers committed suicide in last 16 years
- More than 17,000 in 2009, or once every 30 minutes
- Trade liberalization, structural adjustment, and privatization pushed by IMF, WTO, & WB
- MNCs (esp. Monsanto) capitalized by promoting Bt cotton, which requires significant inputs
- Lack of public support, overproduction, usurious interest rates, expensive inputs, and crop failures leads to escalating debt cycle
- Farmers commit suicide out of despair by consuming pesticides that drove them into debt
- Economic, political, social, and human rights crisis
Brian M Napoletano
2011-09-21
