Indian farmer Saroj (C) poses with her children (L to R) Virpal (aged 4), Rani (6), Ranjit (5 months), Kirna (9) and Jagseer (2) during an interview in the village of Bhatuan, some 150 kms west of Chandigarh on April 22, 2008. Saroj's husband (photograph at R) committed suicide in November 2007, leaving behind a debt of the equivalent of about 3,000 USD. Saroj works cleaning cow dung in farms making an average of 350 Indian rupees (8.70 USD) a month. Thousands of farmers and labourers have killed themselves in the affluent state in the past decade because of a crisis blamed on official neglect of the farming sector.
Indian farmers harvest wheat in the village of Chaina, some 200 kms northwest from Chandigarh on April 23, 2008. Thousands of farmers and labourers have killed themselves in the affluent state of Punjab in the past decade because of a crisis blamed on official neglect of the farming sector. Experts say government must pay immediate attention to agriculture if it is to save the situation, even as prices of the food the farmers grow surge rapidly.
An Indian farmer collects grains of wheat in the village of Churalkalan, some 100 kms west of Chandigarh on April 23, 2008. Thousands of farmers and labourers have killed themselves in the affluent state of Punjab in the past decade because of a crisis blamed on official neglect of the farming sector. Experts say government must pay immediate attention to agriculture if it is to save the situation, even as prices of the food the farmers grow surge rapidly.
An Indian farmer relaxes on a "charpoy" (traditional bed) in the village of Jajjal, some 250 kms west of Chandigarh on April 22, 2008. Thousands of farmers and labourers have killed themselves in the affluent state of Punjab in the past decade because of a crisis blamed on official neglect of the farming sector. Experts say government must pay immediate attention to agriculture if it is to save the situation, even as prices of the food the farmers grow surge rapidly.
Indian farmer Baljeet Kaur (L) weeps as she sits next to her husband Bohar Singh during an interview with AFP in the village of Hamirgarh some 150 kms west of Chandigarh on April 21, 2008. Baljeet's sister left her three children with Baljeet and Bohar when she fled after her husband commited suicide a few years ago. Thousands of farmers and labourers have killed themselves in the affluent state of Punjab in the past decade because of a crisis blamed on official neglect of the farming sector.
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