Thursday, January 31, 2008

Brand INDIA !!!

Brand INDIA !!! A suiside country too

GDP growth is estimated at a stunning 8 percent-plus.
Foreign exchange reserves are at over $103 billion.
Check out the mushrooming malls, improving telecom connectivity, booming industry.
The government has ambitious plans to link rivers, to build superhighways -- both concrete and wireless, criss-crossing the nation.
A South Asia Free Trade Agreement has been created.
Plus radical economic and strategic pacts with the United States, the European Union, and Southeast Asia.
The nationwide media blitz -- would have us believe that we are now looking at a resurgent India, an economic and military powerhouse striding firmly towards its rightful place in the world.
Economists say many million Indians still do not have access to potable water, electricity, decent housing or even good roads.
And literacy rates are appalling.
Do you think the 'feel good' factor sweeping India is more imaginary than real?


The suicides in Maharashtra mark an increase of 527 over the 2005 figure. This was four and a half times bigger than that in Andhra Pradesh, the next worst-hit State, which saw a rise of 117 farm suicides over 2005. It was also more than twice the increase of 198 in Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh taken together.
The NCRB (National Crime Records Bureau) figures show an unrelenting uptrend in what can be termed the ‘SEZ’ or (Farmers) ‘Special Elimination Zone’ States. These States, which account for nearly two-thirds of all farm suicides in the country, include Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Madhya Pradesh (including Chhattisgarh).
As a group, the ‘SEZ’ States saw an increase of 6.2 per cent in such deaths.
Among them, Maharashtra (4,453), Andhra Pradesh (2,607) and Madhya Pradesh-Chhattisgarh (2,858) show a sharp upward spike.
And the trend of rapidly rising farm suicides, particularly post-2001 in the ‘SEZ’ States, remains unchanged.
NCRB data record 1,66,304 farmers’ suicides in a decade since 1997.
On average, there has been one farmer’s suicide every 30 minutes since 2002.

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