Amma announces Rs. 200 crore (approx. 46 million
USD )project for the relief of distressed
farmers in India
Chief minister of Maharashtra Vilasrao Deshmukh held a high-level
meeting with Mata Amritanandamayi at the Sahyadri government guest
house on Thursday on the issue of suicides by farmers of Vidarbha.
After the meeting Amma announced that the Mata Amritanandamayi Math
will undertake a Rs. 200 crore project (approximately
46 million U.S.Dollars) to tackle the
problem of suicides by farmers of Maharashtra, Kerala and other
states.
Amma was deeply concerned about the large number of suicides by
the cotton growers of Vidarbha. During an hour-long meeting, Chief
Minister Deshmukh, chief secretary D.K. Sankaran and other senior
officials briefed Amma about the extent of the problem and the steps
taken by the government to tackle it.
Deshmukh said as a result of a series of steps taken by the state
government and the Centre the problem is now beginning to be under
check. ``But the problem cannot be solved through economic packages
alone. What is needed is social and spiritual interventions so that
the farmers realise that suicide was not the way out. In fact, they
only further aggravate the problem for the families,’’
Amma observed to which the CM agreed and sought her assistance in
dissuading the farmers from taking extreme steps.
Amma stressed the need for personal counselling of the vulnerable
persons. She recalled the experience of M.A.Math volunteers in dealing
with a similar problem in Waynad district of Kerala.
Amma appreciated the efforts made by the Maharashtra government
and said it represented the best efforts taken by any state government
to deal with the problem of farmers’ suicides. She said even
though in comparison to the total number of suicides taking place
in the country the suicides by farmers may be less, in absolute
terms the numbers are large enough to warrant expeditious interventions
at all levels. The hysteria among farmers needs to be neutralised
and associated problems like alchoholism etc. need to be taken care
of.
Apart from the chief minister and chief secretary, others who attended
the meeting included senior cabinet minister Patangrao Kadam, ministers
Balasaheb Thorat, Ramraje Njmbalkar, principal secretaries Sarogi
and Pande, divisional commissioner, Amravati, Goyal, and Amma’s
disciples and devotees."
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