Farmers sell wives after crops fail

[Nikki Stone1]

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/farmers-sell-wives-after-crops-fail-1783221.html

North Indian farmers are selling their wives to survive, it has been revealed.

Left without money due to failing crops, debt-ridden farmers in Bundelkhand, Uttar Pradesh, have reportedly been selling their wives to money lenders for Rs 4,000 - 12,000 (£50-150).

The more beautiful the woman, the higher the price that she fetches, it was claimed.

The deals are allegedly being settled on a legal stamp paper under the heading "Vivaha Anubandh" meaning Marriage Contract. Once the new "husband" is tired of the woman, she is allegedly sold to another man.

The National Commission for Women (NCW) is now sending a team to investigate the reports.

Girija Vyas, chief of the NCW, said: "It is awful and unbelievable that it still happens in the country, and that too in Uttar Pradesh where the chief minister is a woman.

"We are sending a team to find out the details and have asked for the report within 24 hours."

She added that the commission had also written a letter to the state's chief minister.

One of the victims said: "My husband sold me to another man for Rs 8,000 (£100) only. My buyer took me to the court to make our wedding look legal. During the trip I got the chance to escape."

In most cases, the women are illiterate and cannot read what is written in the "contract".

A farmer who helped expose the situation to the Indian media said he is now being harassed....

[glowing]

1. And once they run out of the wives, they sell the children next.

[BlooInBloo]

4. I would have assumed they'd sell the children first, from an economic perspective.

[alittlelark]

23. Once a wife has produced 2-3 she is expendable - from a $$ view.

The children work on the farm and see the father as 'master'.

The wife could make trouble, the children can/are being brainwashed to believe in the fathers worldview.


The women are the 1st to get rid of.

The slaves she produced will be yours for years.

[BlooInBloo]

26. Women can do more work than kids.

[alittlelark]

30. Once the kids are 6-8 they are very effective.

They have smaller hands and can do the more difficult work (they can also be sold to textile mills for BIG $$$) of BENDING OVER every 6-7 seconds to pick up the chaff from the 'wheat'.

If trained a 5-7 year old is almost as good as a teen.


Where do you think we get our beautiful imported carpets from?

[Jack Rabbit]

50. And after that kidneys.

[Blandocyte]

2. So it's not north Indiana as I'd misread the first time

Seriously, tho, wtf? It's the g.d. 21st century! Time for Western leaders to speak out against this "ownership" of people.

[Name removed]

3. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[BlooInBloo]

5. Wow.

[GodlyDemocrat]

9. What a racist, bigoted thing to say

:mad: :wtf:

[soonerliberlmom]

37. make that a double WOW

WOW

[Forkboy]

12. Another winning post from t.r.

[Duncan Grant]

16. It's users like you that have made DU what it is today. (nt)

[marmar]

39. Words fail......

nt

[Louisiana1976]

6. ...

:wtf:

[Libertas1776]

7. This all could have been avoided

if they had just had a lottery. Now that's what keeps them crops coming. :sarcasm:

[Poll_Blind]

10. "Lottery in June, corn come soon!" The signifigance of that tale has...

...always stuck with me.

PB

[DainBramaged]

8. I wonder in what order the computer and TV are sold?

[hobbit709]

35. You're assuming they even have electricity.

[Nikki Stone1]

11. Poverty does this to people

This is extreme poverty.

[Quantess]

13. Yes, and poor education and the resulting illiteracy does this to women. (n/t)

[Nikki Stone1]

17. Yes it does

:kick:

[Hannah Bell]

24. no. poverty does.

[Quantess]

32. I knew I put you on "ignore" for a good reason.

"no. poverty does." What kind of an answer is that?

Edit to say: Damn. Back on Ignore.

[Hannah Bell]

33. pfft. sorry you're so delicate.

[OwnedByFerrets]

19. Actually, what does this is genetically engineered seed.

Thousands of the farmers are committing suicide also.

[Nikki Stone1]

22. YES. Do you have a good link for that?

Thanks. The Terminator seeds.

[OwnedByFerrets]

34. Yes, Monsanto is a despicable company. Here is a link

Farmer suicides

Frontline's "Seeds of Suicide: India's Desperate Farmers" has detailed some of the struggles facing the Indian farmer.<81> The transition to using the latest pest-resistant seeds and the necessary herbicides has been difficult. Farmers have been lured to genetically modified seeds promoted by Cargill and Monsanto by the promise of greater yields. Resulting debts from such gambles with genetically modified seeds have led some farmers into the equivalent of indentured servitude. More than 4,500 farmers have committed suicide due largely to mounting debt caused by the poor yields, increased need for pesticides, and higher cost of seed of the BT cotton seed sold by Monsanto.<82><83><84><85>

In India, Monsanto's GM seed business is subcontracted to a joint venture, Mahyco Monsanto Biotech (MMB) India Ltd.<86> and markets its BT Cotton seeds under various names. The Andhra Pradesh government has registered a case against Monsanto for its high seed prices.<53>

In July 2004, India's Prime Minister Manmohan Singh promised to set aside funds in the federal budget to aid struggling farmers, as well as the families of those who committed suicide. For each struggling farming household he pledged 150,000 rupees (about $3,400), and in addition, for families mourning a relative who committed suicide, he pledged a federal compensation of 50,000 rupees (about $1,136). At the time that Prime Minister Singh wrote this legislation, well over 3,000 Indian farmers had already committed suicide.<87>

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monsanto

[SpiralHawk]

52. Check out the work of Vandana Shiva

She is strong and clear on this...

This blog will get you started http://thecalloftheland.wordpress.com/2009/08/26/our-survival-imperative-cultivating-diversity/

Then follow the link to Navdanya

[soonerliberlmom]

38. yes but i want to share in profits

not going to get smacked around for nothing.

[Deja Q]

46. And extremely sad.

:(

Seriously. If a culture values monogamy, or rather if the couple values monogamy, reading stories like that one really are sad.

[BolivarianHero]

14. That's funny...

Nobody from the former USSR never gets sold like this...I guess that's why reactionaries throughout the world fear literate women,.

[provis99]

15. uhh, the Soviet Union is the CENTER for mail-order money brides.

Better check up on your facts again, kiddo.

[izquierdista]

20. You should check again

Mail order brides from former USSR are girls who are swindled into thinking that Prince Charming is a rich Westerner who will take them away from their misery. None of the selling occurs locally, but they make the decision for themselves whether to sign up with a "marriage service".

[Hannah Bell]

25. The Soviet Union = defunct for the past 18 years. & it was the fall &

resultant poverty & insecurity that made the mail-order bride biz boom.

[proteus_lives]

18. Really?

The Ukraine is the "Bride-Basket" of Europe. Russian and Eastern European women are frequently sold into slavery.

Are you one of those DUers who idolizes communism and the old USSR? AKA a DUer with no understanding of history?

[Hannah Bell]

28. umm, the ussr has been defunct close to 20 years. it isn't commies selling

women into slavery, it's capitalist mafioza.

[proteus_lives]

29. Yeah, women were fine in the USSR.

Unless they spoke against the state, read banned books, watched banned movies, were a Jew or wanted a another political party. Then it's off to the gulag. They weren't sold in slavery, they lived in political/cultural slavery.

Ahhh, the good ol' days. :eyes:

[Hannah Bell]

31. beside the point, even if it were true, which it's not. the subject was

women from FORMER USSR being sold into slavery.

Not women from communist run state.

They're sold BY capitalists, TO capitalists, for good capitalist profit.

[TheMadMonk]

21. Former Soviet Union countries were for a while a source of "legal" kiddy porn. nt

[dysfunctional press]

27. same old story...

"she ain't just sittin' on her money...she's sittin' on YOUR money."

[soonerliberlmom]

36. Where do i sign up

A suggestion i can live with....:-)

[LWolf]

40. To North Indian farming wives:

It looks like a traditional sacrifice to the land will be required to return fertility and prosperity.

Do it, and choose a new farmer to work the land next year.

[Nikki Stone1]

42. Traditional sacrifice to the land??

:wtf:

[LWolf]

43. Sure.

The "King" rules for a time, and is sacrificed, his blood restoring the land.

[Nikki Stone1]

44. I must have missed that in social studies

:(

[LWolf]

48. Social studies doesn't usually cover

ancient, pre-christian ritual.

[Nikki Stone1]

49. Hey, I learned about Greek and Roman gods

This is not Greece and Rome.

(Is it?)

[LWolf]

51. It is, and it isn't, lol.

It's not ancient Greece or Rome, but that's where we look to the beginnings of democracy and a republic.

My students love to debate in the style of ancient Greece; less formal, more shouting. :D

[Odin2005]

41. But we have to respect other cultures! *SARCASM*

:sarcasm:

[Deja Q]

45. Well, it's none of anybody's business what other people do, right?

(No, I'm not sure this is sarcasm on my part, despite being a gen-X'er...)

[Odin2005]

47. Well, I'm a Millenial, I'm nosy by nature.

:evilgrin: