BACKGROUND OF KOSME FOUNDATION

India is an agrarian country with about 70% of its rural population depending upon agriculture for their livelihood. With unpredictable weather, India has a long history of floods and droughts in most part of the country year after year. Farming in India is fragmented, with most farmers holding one to three acres of land for farming. In the absence of proper irrigation facility or groundwater resource, many farmers are dependent on the weather gods for farming their small parcel of land in every season.

Most farmers being small timers, they do not have any savings and depend on farming just for their livelihood. They borrow from local money lenders at high interest rates for their urgent needs, promising return of the money after harvesting. When disaster strikes in the form of floods or droughts in subsequent years, farmers are unable to repay their loans, resulting in the money lenders harassing them through various means, including threats and social ostracization, leading the farmers to desperation, forcing them to commit suicide. Government sponsored loan wavers are of little help when the loan has been taken from private money lenders.

Of course, not all farmers’ suicide can be traced back to such a situation. Alcoholism, family problems and health etc., are also reasons for farmers to commit suicide. However, data shows that the major reason for farmers suicide is farming distress. On an average, more than 10,000 farmers commit suicide in India every year.

Maharashtra has the highest number of farmers’ suicide. Despite various initiatives taken by successive governments at both State and Central levels by giving several kinds of subsidies and loan wavers etc., the rate of suicide has not shown any meaningful change in the past twenty years.

AFTERMATH OF SUICIDE

The farmer having been the sole earning membe, his family, mostly consisting of wife, two or three small children and dependent parents, may have found it extremely difficult to get two square meals a day even when he was alive. Imagine the plight of the family after the farmer commits suicide! Yes, the Government does give free ration to some extent, but it is barely sufficient to fill the stomach of all family members for the entire month.

Maharashtra Government gives Rs.1,00,000-00 as a one time Financial Assistance to ‘eligible’ families, by way of Rs.70,000-00 as Fixed Deposit in a bank for seven years and the rest as cash. The cash element is sometimes eaten away by middlemen to the extent of 30 to 50 percent. Thus, the immediate relief the family gets is Rs.20,000-00 to Rs.30,000-00, which is insufficient to put the family back on their feet.

The biggest sufferer in the family is often the wife. Being the only active adult in the family, the responsibility to look after the children and the dependents fall on her shoulders. She does odd jobs to keep the family fed, but it is a tough life and the Foundation has been set up to be of help to her.