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Ramrao: The Story of India's Farm Crisis
One morning in 2014, Ramrao Panchleniwar, an ordinary cotton grower in Maharashtra’s infamous Vidarbha region, consumed two bottles of pesticide in a bid to commit suicide. But he miraculously survived.
In Ramrao, rural journalist Jaideep Hardikar attempts to put a face to India’s unending farm crisis with his story. He takes the reader on a journey of the everyday life of an Indian farmer, his daily struggles, his desperation to come out of his situation, his inability and many failings, the quagmire of issues he faces, and how he comes to a pass where he chooses to put an end to it all.
The result of years of committed reportage, this is an evocative read that rescues an ordinary life from obscurity and turns it into an essential biography for our times.
In Ramrao, rural journalist Jaideep Hardikar attempts to put a face to India’s unending farm crisis with his story. He takes the reader on a journey of the everyday life of an Indian farmer, his daily struggles, his desperation to come out of his situation, his inability and many failings, the quagmire of issues he faces, and how he comes to a pass where he chooses to put an end to it all.
The result of years of committed reportage, this is an evocative read that rescues an ordinary life from obscurity and turns it into an essential biography for our times.
- GenresIndiaNonfiction
229 pages, Kindle Edition
Published August 18, 2021
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183 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
October 16, 2021
"Nearly 4,00,000 farmers have committed suicide in India between 1996 to 2018."
Let this data sink in to our collective conscience which fails to recognize the underlying agrarian crisis. This is the data officially registered with the National Crime Records Bureau but I am sure the numbers are more and so is the collective shame we stare at. This book is a story of one such farmer Ramrao who attempted suicide but somehow didnt die. Here Ramrao is only emblematic of the larger crisis of our country. It is the story of life in an unequal world, one that rides on perpetual hope - hope that hangs like a mirage.
The prevailing agrarian distress has a context with many factors: a giant interlinked global economy, commercialization of farming and life itself; a rural population unable to withstand the new economic order in the absence of safety nets and new privileged India disconnected from its villages and more importantly the reality.
Very often our privileged life makes us think that the crisis has answers if farmers think wisely and rationally. But more one reads into agrarian crisis the more they realise that it's a quagmire which keeps getting entangled with each passing day. The new contentious farm bills might just add more problems to current situation rather than solving it. Either ways the life for countless farmers like Ramrao keeps getting worse with each passing day.
Let this data sink in to our collective conscience which fails to recognize the underlying agrarian crisis. This is the data officially registered with the National Crime Records Bureau but I am sure the numbers are more and so is the collective shame we stare at. This book is a story of one such farmer Ramrao who attempted suicide but somehow didnt die. Here Ramrao is only emblematic of the larger crisis of our country. It is the story of life in an unequal world, one that rides on perpetual hope - hope that hangs like a mirage.
The prevailing agrarian distress has a context with many factors: a giant interlinked global economy, commercialization of farming and life itself; a rural population unable to withstand the new economic order in the absence of safety nets and new privileged India disconnected from its villages and more importantly the reality.
Very often our privileged life makes us think that the crisis has answers if farmers think wisely and rationally. But more one reads into agrarian crisis the more they realise that it's a quagmire which keeps getting entangled with each passing day. The new contentious farm bills might just add more problems to current situation rather than solving it. Either ways the life for countless farmers like Ramrao keeps getting worse with each passing day.
June 7, 2022
When BT Brinjal was introduced this was across news and many environmentalists and Farmers like Nammazhvar raised concerns. They said that the hybrids will contaminate local varieties This was in 2010. It's shocking that the government hasn't learnt anything from the Havoc caused by bt cotton.
When I reached the chapter related to Bt cotton. I couldn't stop thinking of this famous conversation between Pesticide Shop Owner and A poor old Farmer from the Tamil Movie Kadaisi Vivasayi (The Last Farmer)
Farmer: Do you have tomato seeds?
Pesticide Shop Owner(PSO) - Yes, sir.
Farmer: What's the cost?
PSO: Six hundred rupees.
Farmer: What did you say?
PSO: - Six hundred rupees!
Farmer: Mister, I did not ask you for the price of gold!
PSO: This seed is of hybrid variety.It will yield huge bunches of fruit. You will harvest several sackfuls.
Farmer: I won't have to come back to you? I can sow the next batch of seeds?
PSO: No, no. You will have to come back.These are seedless.
Farmer: How could a fruit tree not have seeds?
PSO:It's a white man's invention. The fruits don't have seeds.
Farmer: No seeds? How come? The ichi tree, neem tree...tamarind tree, tomato...they all have seeds.Trees even grow when we eat a fruit and take a shit.How come this fruit doesn't have seeds?
PSO: I have no idea. He supplies and I sell. I'm just a businessman. And people are buying this.
Farmer: How did he get his seeds then?
PSO: This will grow well. Buy it.
Farmer: I don't understand this plant's character. No thanks.
I hope the man who invented this seed
will have a baby boy... born seedless - without balls.
Then he will come to his senses.
Some seed he has invented!
Brainless moron.
When I reached the chapter related to Bt cotton. I couldn't stop thinking of this famous conversation between Pesticide Shop Owner and A poor old Farmer from the Tamil Movie Kadaisi Vivasayi (The Last Farmer)
Farmer: Do you have tomato seeds?
Pesticide Shop Owner(PSO) - Yes, sir.
Farmer: What's the cost?
PSO: Six hundred rupees.
Farmer: What did you say?
PSO: - Six hundred rupees!
Farmer: Mister, I did not ask you for the price of gold!
PSO: This seed is of hybrid variety.It will yield huge bunches of fruit. You will harvest several sackfuls.
Farmer: I won't have to come back to you? I can sow the next batch of seeds?
PSO: No, no. You will have to come back.These are seedless.
Farmer: How could a fruit tree not have seeds?
PSO:It's a white man's invention. The fruits don't have seeds.
Farmer: No seeds? How come? The ichi tree, neem tree...tamarind tree, tomato...they all have seeds.Trees even grow when we eat a fruit and take a shit.How come this fruit doesn't have seeds?
PSO: I have no idea. He supplies and I sell. I'm just a businessman. And people are buying this.
Farmer: How did he get his seeds then?
PSO: This will grow well. Buy it.
Farmer: I don't understand this plant's character. No thanks.
I hope the man who invented this seed
will have a baby boy... born seedless - without balls.
Then he will come to his senses.
Some seed he has invented!
Brainless moron.
September 21, 2022
Story of Ramrao, How he split in apart after paying hospital bills while his wife vimal ailing and daughters wedding converge him neck deep debt. Suddenly Ramrao found himself alone. Maansoon played truant, yield dropped, didn’t seem to abate. Steadily losses getting spun debilitating stature. All had terrible impact tugging towards poverty.
Between 2014-15 reports says scores of farmers continued to commit suicide- three in a day in vidarbha,one in thirty minutes in India. Several thousand, as usual, migrated to the towns and cities. About 2000 farmers quite farming in India every day. Some 7.5 million did so between 1991 and 2011, according to the census reports of 1991,2001and 2011 . In 2007, planning commission and the economic survey of India 2017-18 said de facto female playing crucial role in agriculture development due to male migration.Globally,there is empirical evidence that women have decisive role in ensuring food security. This is important women farmers should have enhanced acces of resources such as land water credit and training etc.
So much detailed information out there about cotton industry, cotton farming, seed industry and their competitions. In between we lost farmers life which is loss for our society as well . Government must think or should prioritise the reform of agrarian policies to resurrect and reinvigorate farmers lives. It tells why and how we are not producing Gossypium Harbaceum and Gossypium Arboreum- species limited to India and commonly called desi varieties of cotton. In india we are mostly growing hybrid American cotton it was mere 3 percent during partition now 70 percent cultivating.
It is true most of the farmers having anxieties: will we get loans ? Will it rain on time ? What should we sow? Will it grow well? Will we get good price? Eventually most of the peasants ends their life with suicide or with heart attack. It brings more migration. Governments making policies for corporates, for urban areas,for cities. Buildings are growing exponentially villages are still remain same. Villagers are still struggling for foods, cloths, tarpaulin. In one word inequalities growing.
After reading it I can’t understand how peasants are coping up with the situations? How they are surviving with rain-fed dryland agriculture with abysmal productivity?how their confidence resurrecting after torn by suicide?
Read it to understand farmers life…. 📖📖
Between 2014-15 reports says scores of farmers continued to commit suicide- three in a day in vidarbha,one in thirty minutes in India. Several thousand, as usual, migrated to the towns and cities. About 2000 farmers quite farming in India every day. Some 7.5 million did so between 1991 and 2011, according to the census reports of 1991,2001and 2011 . In 2007, planning commission and the economic survey of India 2017-18 said de facto female playing crucial role in agriculture development due to male migration.Globally,there is empirical evidence that women have decisive role in ensuring food security. This is important women farmers should have enhanced acces of resources such as land water credit and training etc.
So much detailed information out there about cotton industry, cotton farming, seed industry and their competitions. In between we lost farmers life which is loss for our society as well . Government must think or should prioritise the reform of agrarian policies to resurrect and reinvigorate farmers lives. It tells why and how we are not producing Gossypium Harbaceum and Gossypium Arboreum- species limited to India and commonly called desi varieties of cotton. In india we are mostly growing hybrid American cotton it was mere 3 percent during partition now 70 percent cultivating.
It is true most of the farmers having anxieties: will we get loans ? Will it rain on time ? What should we sow? Will it grow well? Will we get good price? Eventually most of the peasants ends their life with suicide or with heart attack. It brings more migration. Governments making policies for corporates, for urban areas,for cities. Buildings are growing exponentially villages are still remain same. Villagers are still struggling for foods, cloths, tarpaulin. In one word inequalities growing.
After reading it I can’t understand how peasants are coping up with the situations? How they are surviving with rain-fed dryland agriculture with abysmal productivity?how their confidence resurrecting after torn by suicide?
Read it to understand farmers life…. 📖📖
April 16, 2022
Takeaway from the book: More than a farm/farmer's issue, this is a social issue. Lack of basic human facilities and support. All involved should look at education, healthcare and support system before any farming laws. If human dignity that everyone deserves, are provided to rural India, many things will improve.
December 19, 2024
Jaideep Hardikar's book, Ramrao, The Story of India's Farm Crisis, not only tells its readers about the farmers' suicides. But, through the tale of Ramrao, it covers all the major aspects that small and marginal farmers have been facing for several years. A book from ground zero.
Although this is a nonfiction book, those of you who want to read about farmers, especially a fiction novel about them, can also read Neelima Kotima's novel, Shoes of the Dead. The latter also deals with the suicides of farmers.
What is Ramrao: The Story of India's Farm Crisis by Jaideep Hardikar?
Ramrao, The Story of India's Farm Crisis is the tale of an Indian farmer, who tried to commit suicide in 2014 but was luckily saved. The story reveals not only the circumstances that pushed the protagonist to take such a drastic step. It does, however, shed light on the types of issues that a farmer faces on a daily basis.
The author of the book has done a good job by writing about the most neglected yet one of the most important issues in India, i.e., the agrarian crisis. The language of the book is easy to grasp. I recommend this book to those readers who are eager to learn about the problems that the Indian farmers are facing.
The USP of this book is that the author not only interacted with Ramrao several times but also visited his farm and the other neighboring village farms. The place from which Ramrao hails is the Vidarbha region of Maharashtra. And the same Vidharbha that is infamous in India for its unabated farmer suicides.
Although this is a nonfiction book, those of you who want to read about farmers, especially a fiction novel about them, can also read Neelima Kotima's novel, Shoes of the Dead. The latter also deals with the suicides of farmers.
What is Ramrao: The Story of India's Farm Crisis by Jaideep Hardikar?
Ramrao, The Story of India's Farm Crisis is the tale of an Indian farmer, who tried to commit suicide in 2014 but was luckily saved. The story reveals not only the circumstances that pushed the protagonist to take such a drastic step. It does, however, shed light on the types of issues that a farmer faces on a daily basis.
The author of the book has done a good job by writing about the most neglected yet one of the most important issues in India, i.e., the agrarian crisis. The language of the book is easy to grasp. I recommend this book to those readers who are eager to learn about the problems that the Indian farmers are facing.
The USP of this book is that the author not only interacted with Ramrao several times but also visited his farm and the other neighboring village farms. The place from which Ramrao hails is the Vidarbha region of Maharashtra. And the same Vidharbha that is infamous in India for its unabated farmer suicides.
May 30, 2022
Ramrao tells a critical story that lies in the heartlands of our country. A story that we cannot see from our distant vantage points of privilege and perhaps an unintended lack of awareness. Simply, because we do not need to.
The comforts in our lives are subsidised by the hardships and efforts of farmers. We may believe we have earned and purchased our means, therefore it is well within our rights. But, this “market” is what has wronged them. Else, why is it that the fair price we pay for our purchases does not provide decent lives for those at the grassroots who make it possible?
Jaideep Hardikar's well-documented and thoroughly researched work weaves news and facts into a story. One that will make you feel statistics and live realities that you might not have been able to comprehend before.
The comforts in our lives are subsidised by the hardships and efforts of farmers. We may believe we have earned and purchased our means, therefore it is well within our rights. But, this “market” is what has wronged them. Else, why is it that the fair price we pay for our purchases does not provide decent lives for those at the grassroots who make it possible?
Jaideep Hardikar's well-documented and thoroughly researched work weaves news and facts into a story. One that will make you feel statistics and live realities that you might not have been able to comprehend before.
September 19, 2022
A good read on the agrarian crisis that has plagued Vidarbha since the late 90s. Jaideep Hardikar explains various issues through the story of a farmer - Ramrao. That has made the book readable to the general audience. It also takes stock of the current situation of farmers. Are they better off now than a decade ago? Have the suicide cases been reduced? Has their income doubled or is that even the right measure? It answers all these questions.
I would recommend this book to people who have heard about farmer suicides in Vidarbha for a long and are curious about the issue.
I would recommend this book to people who have heard about farmer suicides in Vidarbha for a long and are curious about the issue.
dnf
August 9, 2023The book might be a great read for folks who are new to the space of food and agriculture. I found it belabouring the same point (needless to say that it is an important point). I gave up on the book because I wasn’t getting new information on the problems of Indian agriculture from it. Nonetheless, this is a great book and should be a wonderful and an important read for anyone looking to understand why and how our agricultural system is so messed up.
August 28, 2021
This is a gem of a book by Jaideep Hardikar. It takes the reader up close and personal to Ramrao and understand the problems which farmers and their families face day in and day out, including the apathy of central and state governments to make serious effort to resolve the issues of the farmers.
October 28, 2022
Scholarly, detailed and deeply engaging analysis of India's farm crisis. I myself belong to yavatmal city and I am deeply saddened by the pain of vidarbha's cotton growers. The book helped me understand the multilayered nature of the farm crisis in Vidarbha.
October 11, 2022
Comprehensive!
November 13, 2022
Must Read to know about Bharat. For the kind of book this is, it must have been really difficult to be non-judgemental.
March 21, 2023
The best thing about this work is it’s simplicity. It tells the story of a farmer, from a farmer’s perspective.
July 5, 2023
Ramrao didn't died that day because he had to live an examplary life for the people of Hiwara and the farmers of India .
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews