The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : IT workers speak up for farmers

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Sunday, Mar 27, 2011
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Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

IT workers speak up for farmers

Staff Reporter

AWARENESS:A candlelight vigil and a protest march were held in Bangalore on Saturday against the government's neoliberal policies.

BANGALORE: An irate IT worker fobs off a private bank agent who can't stop showering him with low-interest loans and credit cards. Cut to a village, where farmers have no access to credit or government support, a widow mourns for her farmer husband who killed himself after his crop failed and debtors demanded their pound of flesh. Meanwhile, TV channels are busy giving a spot report on the latest India-Australia ODI.

These were scenes from a street play, performed outside the Town Hall, by IT workers from the IT Employees Centre (ITEC). Later, the IT employees, green NGOs, women's rights groups and the Indian Institute of Science's student group Concern, participated in a candlelight vigil and a protest march. They were demonstrating against farmer suicides and the government apathy to the agrarian crisis, and neoliberal policies that ignore the poor.

So why is a bunch of IT professionals interested in farmer suicides? It all started with Concern screening of Nero's Guests, a documentary on the agrarian distress, and a talk by journalist P. Sainath. “Days after the event, we read about a sericulture farmer couple committing suicide. We found out that the crisis they faced was directly related to a budget announcement, the same that offered corporate subsidies worth Rs. 80,000 crore,” explains Naveen Mudunuru of ITEC.

Subhankar Chakraborty of Concern said: “The motive is to increase social awareness and build public opinion on these important issues.”

Bore Gowda, silk farmer and father of Swami and Vasantha (who committed suicide), spoke to the audience on issues he faces.

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