Film, Peepli Live, Focuses On Problem of Indian Farmers Committing Suicide
I am glad the movie Peepli Live has inadvertently set the silver screens on fire - well, sort of.
It has highlighted the case of farmers committing suicide in India, which I had written about in many articles on my blog. Faced with crops failing because of a lack of rain, farmers in India have been committing suicide because they're unable to pay back the loans to local money lenders. Indian farmers are still living in abject poverty, despite the progress the country is making in areas such as outsourcing, technology, infrastructure and biotechnology.
What is at the root of this frustration? Indian farmers have long been living a subsistence existence because of the benefits of liberalization and the newly set-free-from-shackles regime of tax cuts which have not benefited them. Their land holdings are small and they are forced to borrow money from local money lenders with the promise of paying them back after the crops are harvested. But when crops fail, they fail too.
Peepli Live (I have not seen the film yet) is about such a subsistence farmer in the village of Peepli who announces that he will be committing suicide to the media. This brings teams of television and other media journalists to cover the development, which they deem will have significant news value. I am not sure what happens in the end.
Another movie which highlights the plight of farmers who commit suicide is produced by writer, entrepreneur and journalist Harini Calamur. The movie is titled Jhing Chak Jhing and looks at the problem from the eyes of a child.
Both these films have succeeded in highlighting the problem. It remains to be seen what solutions will be offered by the government, which thus far has not taken a keen interest in solving this problem.
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