GM crops and India's suicide belt

The region of Madhya Pradesh in India called Vidarbha is one of the hottest regions of the country. It is located almost in the centre of the subdontinent. It is also now called India's suicide belt. The reason is genetically modified, or GM crops. Monsanto, the US based supercorp which trades in seeds and agricultural products is using India as a a test ground for GM crops. These seeds are sold at much higher rates than traditional seeds. To make room for them, government seed banks and other sources of traditional seeds arebeing displaced. GM seeds require much more water than traditional varieties. In India, where electricity and water is not always guaranteed, GM crops fail. Leaving the farmers in terrible debt. At which point they commit suicide. As simple as that. Of course, if the crops succeed, then the farmers reap rich harvests. But it increasingly appears that our government has sold the poorest of the poor down the drain. Yet again. The truth of the matter is that Western corporations can afford to treat the rest of the world with such awful callousness only because they are always able to find brown/black people who will happily sell their own families away for a few dollars or pound sterling. It is these people whom we end up electing to positions of power who are, in truth responsible for ruining lives.

Read this article on the GM crop related suicides.