Suicide rate is highest (25.6 %) among daily wage labourers in India.
The highest magnitude of suicides was found in Cotton belt districts of Punjab, which maybe due to incessant cotton crop failures from 2015 onwards.
Mahinder Singh (45) hanged himself due to indebtedness. He was from village Jaga Ram Tirath of Talwandi Sabo (Dist. Bathinda). Mahinder worked as a farm labourer.
The village Kroran Tanda is just 10 kilometres away from Chandigarh. It is so close to the capital city, yet it lacks basic facilities। One has to cross 5 seasonal rivers to reach here, and there is no bridge on any of them. Whenever it rains the rivers get flooded, and the village residents get stuck if they are away from the village or remain cut off from the outside world if they are in the village. In this year, 7 village residents lost their lives during the rainy season. Two of them were a couple from Tanda and their children are orphans now. The village school is in between two rivers, and whenever it rains, teachers can’t reach the school. If they are in school, they get stranded there.
Indigenous cotton is one of Punjab’s ancient crops. The British introduced a new variety of cotton, which was named Narma (softer cotton). The Bathinda, Muktsar, Fazilka, and Mansa districts of East Panjab are called Narma or Cotton Belt. After the green revolution cotton crop made farming sustainable in this region. But slowly the American Cotton Bollworm started to cause damage to crops. In 2002 BT Cotton was introduced, whose seeds contain toxicity to counter pest attacks. But farmers can’t farm these seeds themselves, they have to buy new seeds from the market every year.
In village Mansurwal (Distt. Ferozepur) of Punjab, farmer unions and locals have been protesting a liquor factory since 24 July 2022. People are accusing the factory by Malbros International Private Limited of polluting the ground water and air in the area. This factory is owned by liquor businessman and politician Deep Malhotra(Ex MLA Faridkot) of Shiromani Akali Dal (Badal). Villages accused the company of illegal mining and dumping the ashen waste underground. The Trolley Times team visited the village Ratol Rohi on 5 August 2022.
Noor Zora arts group performs Giddha at weddings, and other functions. These are men who dress up as women to perform the quintessential Punjabi dance. In this film we get to know their reasons to perform the way they do.
This is what a Textile industry does to fresh water sources, forest and people who are dependant on them. Walipur is a living example Satluj’s water is considered of drinking quality and it is classified as C category by Punjab Pollution Control Board. Buddha Naala meets the Satluj river close to Walipur Kalan village of Punjab’s Ludhiana district. It carries polluted water of Ludhiana’s industry along with it. After the water from Buddha Naala merges with Satluj, it becomes undrinkable and the quality classification is considered E category.
A friend sadly says, “the plight of the masses being displaced from their homes, and their fears about rehabilitation are often disregarded in cases involving land acquisitions for development”.
“I do not want to do agriculture, but I have to feed myself and my family. I have given ITI exams; I wish I could
It is a tradition in the Punjabi language to call old courses or tributaries of rivers, Budha(Old) or Purana(Ancient). An old course of river Ravi was called Budha Dariya. A tributary that originated from the Satluj bay near Ropar town is also called Budha or Purana Dariya. This tributary fell into Ghaggar river near Moonak(Patiala district), but then it started flowing parallel to the Ghaghar.
The joint struggle of various unions started from the 1st of july across the state of Karnataka. There was a call for complete strike by sanitation workers (Powrakarmikara) that includes women workers who sweep the road and male workers who take the charge of collecting garbage and transporting it to the dumping yard; all the workers are predominantly dalits.
Even after the historic defeat of the fascist government in India, the neoliberal order has been none the wiser. While in India the Modi government
“Meri umar 62 saal hai par mainu lagda main Sidhu da sabot vadda fan haa/ I am 62 years old, but I think I am
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