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Village For Sale

By Chinmay Chakravarty |
Villagers of an interior village of Vidarbha, the eastern region of Maharashtra known for extreme poverty, are starting a protest of a very different kind from today, the 22nd of January, 2009.

More than a thousand farmers of Maharashtra commit suicide every year due to unpaid debt and this has been the scenario for several years. Vidarbha with eleven districts of the states is the worst affected region. Despite Prime Minister’s Relief Package of 2006, the historic loan waiver scheme announced by the Union Budget 2008-09 and the recently declared state government loan waiver package the benefits are not reaching the poor farmers and suicides continue.

Out of sheer desperation villagers have decided to put up their village for sale. With the inequalities seen in our entire country maybe the day is not far off when you can even add villages in your shopping carts!


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