No psychiatrists in drought areas

Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis on Monday raised the need to counsel farmers in the state Assembly to help curb farmer suicides.
However, it has come to light that Marathwada and Vidarbha that record the highest number of farmer suicides, do not have a single psychiatrist in the seven government hospitals to counsel them.
This year, more than 1,000 farmers committed suicide in the state due to the continuing agrarian crisis for successive years. To address the issue, the central government is laying importance on the counselling of the depressed farmers in drought-prone areas.

100 farmers to auction their organs

Condemning a recent incident where a debt-ridden farmer was forced to sell his kidney, 100 farmers from Aurangabad will hold a protest on Thursday where they will auction their organs to the public to repay their debt.
“We are suffocating under the burden of debt. Every day, goons of moneylenders keep knocking at our doors. Due to this, we can’t even go outside. We have no other option but to sell our body parts,” said Jayaji Suryavanshi, a farmer and social activist.
At a time when the government is keen to counsel debt-ridden farmers to stop them from ending their lives, farmers appear dissatisfied with the