Caritas India to devise plan to curtail farmers' suicide

MUMBAI: Caritas India, a largest national non-governmental organization of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of India, has devised an integrated program Save Farmers-Save India to curtail farmer suicides in the country.

 

"An integrated approach to the development of the farmers' region include a sustainable natural resource management, effective micro-credit groups and empowerment of farmers in fighting high suicide rates among marginalized farmers," Fr Varghese Mattamana, Executive Director, Caritas India, said here.

 

He said the major focus of Caritas India this year would be among poor and marginalized farmers to arrest suicide rates and a major part of its annual Rs 100 crore would be spent on the farmer's integrated development plan.

 

Fr Mattamana said the February 6-8 national conference at Goregaon underlined the need to reach the grassroots level in facilitating the progress of marginalized farmers.

 

"We are planning large-scale intervention against farmers' suicides across the country based on our successful implementation of program in Wynad district, Kerala, where we were able to contain farmers' suicides," Fr Mattamana claimed.

 

He said more than 2000 poor and marginalized farmers in Wynad who had joined the self-help group development plan of Caritas India did not commit suicide. There are over 250,000 groups established among marginalized communities across India, he said.

 

"The group members have achieved leadership qualities and management capacity to make the best use of small savings and access resources from banks and governmental institutions to improve quality of life," Fr Mattamana said.

 

"We want to take that strategy to Vidharbha region in Maharashtra to reach out to farmers where suicide rates have been on the rise", he said, adding that "each of us is responsible for building a stronger India and therefore we need policies that are much more effective."

 

The main theme of the conference is “to revisit community empowerment methodologies and intervention strategies: human rights based approach to development’’. The three-day meet will also discuss and finalize other action plans of Caritas India for two years that will include feedback from representatives of partner agencies and external experts to firm up the plan based on the Wynad district.

 

Fr Mattamana asserted that the integrated program at Wynad helped contained the farmers’ suicide because of Caritas India's intervention. "Caritas India plans to improve this strategy and spread to more areas, including Vidarbha in Maharashtra and Gujarat," he added.

 

Applauding Caritas India's "noble work" in alleviating sufferings of the underprivileged, marginalized farmers and other backward communities, Mahesh Bhatt, Bollywood film producer, said, "It's heartening to see Catholic priests, the men of God, stepping out and catering to the despair of millions, especially anguished farmers, exploited tribals and endogenous people living on the periphery."

 

"It is heartening to see priests locking horns with the Government of India in empowering the underprivileged and joining hands with them in realizing their dream," he observed. 

 

"Anguished farmers, some of who are committing suicides, the poor and underprivileged are entitled to a fair deal of justice. India needs to get back its moral values in place instead of moving dreams of being a superpower", Bhatt said.

 

"I too have benefited from the Catholic Church and I salute her for serving with religious fervor, the poor and the downtrodden for 59 years since Independence. I applaud the Church for changes I see around," he said.

 

"I just learned Caritas, a Latin word, means love and service. To me if you love somebody, service comes naturally and that's what Caritas India has been doing since its inception 45 years ago in the Indian sub-continent, whether it is reaching out to the victims of earthquake disaster, tsunami deluge, Mumbai floods, drought-hit regions and farmers ending their lives in distress," Bhatt said.

 

Caritas India, a non-profit organization, is the official social service arm of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of India. It was established in 1962. During the last four decades of its humanitarian and development effort, it served the poor and marginalized, regardless of caste, creed and ethnicity.

 

Caritas India is a network organization of 144 social service societies, 11 regional fora and NGO partners working for sustainable human development and environmental management.