ELEVEN farmers have lost their lives in the face of the drought in Tamil Nadu, 10 of them in a span of three weeks starting from December 31, 2002. The deaths occurred initially in the Cauvery delta districts of Thanjavur, Tiruvarur and Nagapattinam; later deaths were reported from Villupuram and Tuticorin districts too. Those who died were small and middle peasants who had borrowed about Rs.5,000 an acre to raise their crop.
The first death reported was that of seven-year-old Prakash, who died of hunger in September 2002 at Adhichapuram in Tiruvarur district. The others who died were Veeraiyan of Tirupuvanam, Thanjavur district; Shanmugam of Palayamkottai village in Tiruvarur district; Nagappa, a 55-year-old Dalit; Padmavathy, a 45-year-old widow from Vazhakkarai village, Nagapattinam district; Tamilarasan (54) of Vilankudi, Tiruvarur; Sornapushpam (60), a sugarcane cultivator of Chietheripattai, Villupuram district; Sambandam (57) of Rajagopalpuram near Mannargudi; Veluchamy (29), a Dalit belonging to Tiruthuraipoondi; Ganesa Thevar (65) of Ammalur, Tiruvarur; and Ganesan (31) of Avarani Puducheri, Nagapattinam.
Veeraiyan, Shanmugam, Ganesan and Nagappa committed suicide. Veeraiyan consumed pesticide, and Ganesan leapt in front of a moving train. Others died of heart attack, resulting from the shock of seeing their withering crops.
When a Frontline team visited Veeraiyan's home at Tirupuvanam, his widow Chinnaponnu said her husband was a hard worker. She said she was unable to stomach District Collector S. Kosalaraman's allegation that Veeraiyan drank poison because he was unable to get money from her for consuming liquor. Veeraiyan's grandson, R. Santhanakrishnan and his neighbour M. Padmanabhan took this correspondent to Veeraiyan's fields. Veeraiyan had allowed his cattle to graze the paddy because the crop had failed. What finally broke him was the grim fact that the crop withered in the adjoining field too, which he cultivated on borrowed money.
People in the affected areas resent the officials' claim that those who died were "drunkards" or suffered from jaundice. At Mannargudi, the police mounted a midnight search for V. Sivapunniyam, Communist Party of India (CPI) legislator, to lay their hands on a letter written to him by Shanmugam before he committed suicide, citing starvation and crop failure. The high-handed police action led to roadblocks in Tiruvarur district, and tension prevailed in Mannargudi and other places.
K. Balakrishnan, general secretary, Tamil Nadu unit of the All India Kisan Sabha, demanded an inquiry by the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) into these deaths. He pointed out that the samba paddy crop had not been cultivated in 50 per cent of the normal acreage in the delta districts. Where samba had been cultivated, it was dying for want of water. The kuruvai cultivation did not take place at all. Several lakhs of jobless farm labourers had been forced to eat rats, crabs and snails to survive.
"People have not faced such a tragic situation in the past 50 years. But District Collectors are issuing statements obfuscating facts and trivialising these suicides. The State government is keeping silent on the issue," regretted Balakrishnan.
Dr. S. Ramadoss, founder of the Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK) said: "These starvation deaths, suicides and deaths from shocks have become a serial story even after the government implemented a noon meal scheme" for farmers.
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