We have selected “A Bitter Harvest,” written by the Institute for Food and Development First/Food First, an organization that analyzes “the root causes of global hunger, poverty, and ecological degradation and developing solutions in partnership with movements working for social change.” This paper provides an excellent introduction as to the origins and causes of the current agricultural crisis in Punjab. Some of you may have heard about the rise in farmer suicides in India, which I suspect is a problem in other countries as well. What many people do not know is that this is a SIGNIFICANT problem in Punjab and has been overlooked. We will be looking at how factors such as debt, decreasing crop yields, decrease in prices, and dowry are significant contributors to farmer suicides in Punjab. What’s interesting is that the author of this paper is not a Sikh! The supplemental readings include some news articles that refute these assertions. You can download the paper and the supplemental readings below. A Bitter Harvest is not a long reading, so we encourage all of you to read this paper and even better, come to the meeting! Please feel free to give your feedback via online! Let us know if you have any readings to recommend.
This Month’s Reading:
Supplemental Readings (Optional)
Punjab Agriculture
- Agricultural Crisis in Punjab
- Farmers Suicides and Response of Public Policy by Anita Gill and Lakhvinder Singh (A MPRA Publication)
- Rural Institutions and Planned Change in Agriculture: A Comparative Perspective in Two Punjabs by the Pakistani Review
Farmer Suicides in Punjab (Background Information)
- Suicides in Rural Punjab
- Farmer Suicides (Excerpt from book.pg 150)
- Farmers Deny Pakistani Radio’s Assertion of Punjab’s Agricultural Crisis
- Farmer Suicides Are Being Underplayed
Farmer Suicides and Agriculture in India
- The Silent Tsunami by The Economist
- The Political Economy of Farmer Suicides in India
- News Story: India’s Growth Outstrips Crops by The New York Times
- Indian Farmers Committing Suicide by P. Sainath
Pesticides and It’s Effects
- News Story: Chemical Generation by the Economist
- News Story: Altered DNA of Punjab Farmers
- News Story: Pesticide-ridden Punjab to begin cancer registration
- Punjab goes organic for pest control
- Analysis Of Pesticide Residues In Blood Samples From Villages Of Punjab
- Environmental Health Crisis In Punjab, Who Cares?
Water Crisis
- News Story: Severe Water Crisis in Punjab
- Mitigating Water-crisis In Punjab : Empowering Society With Water Vision by Umendra Dutt
Female Infanticides
