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I am fundraising to help the victims of the farmer suicides in Vidarbha region of Maharashtra

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To create a fund to help the victims of the farmer suicides that are on the rise in the Vidarbha region of Maharashtra

VIDARBHA JAN ANDOLAN SAMITI (VJAS) is an organization founded by Kishore Tiwariji (http://www.theweekendleader.com/Crusade/447/vidarbha%E2%80%99s-hope.html).

The VJAS has been monitoring suicides by farmers and providing rehabilitation support to their families. They have taken up issues with the administration, judiciary, legislature, human rights bodies and international forums. In a region comprising more than 70 percent backward population, VJAS has been taking up issues like malnutrition among tribals, their right to food and education, and drinking water supply.

Listen to Kishore Tiwari talk about the farmer suicide situation. Below is the official data from the ncrb (National Crime Records Bureau)

2001: 52
2002: 104
2003: 148
2004: 447
2005: 445
2006: 1,448
2007: 1,246
2008: 1,268
2009: 916
2010: 748
2011: 918
2012 : 916
2013 : (Till 5th September —613)

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25th December 2016

Dear Supporters,

Over 16 families affected in the Vidarbha drought have been rehabilitated, thanks to your contribution.

Farmer rehabilitation is an on-going effort and cannot yield long-term results in a few months. Hence, volunteers for this campaign are continuously involved in creating awareness amongst farmers in Vidarbha about sustainability and long-term financial planning. They’ve been working on pushing more and more affected families back into civilisation, the past year.

The sugar factories in Marathwada are consuming precious groundwater required for essential crops. Volunteers, in tandem with local panchayats, have been in talks to introduce farming policies that protect water consumption for majority crop production, rather than give preference to profit crops like sugarcane.

They have also been working on making other sources of groundwater available for farmers.

They thank you for your support.

Team Milaap.

26th July 2015

and we have done it - together we raised 10 lakhs and in fact more (10,41,443.00) and its still going strong.

We had contributions from people belonging to different parts of India, different countries in the world, speaking different languages, having different beliefs and faiths, all coming together to stand in solidarity and give a simple message to the farmers "We are with you".

The campaign also gave us an opportunity to highlight not just issues but also solutions. The samwad yatra undertaken by Kishore ji and his team helped reach farmers in district across almost 35 villages.

Also Kishoreji's active role in criticizing government's policies, their in actions, finally yielded results. he know is appointed by the Maharashtra government to look into the farmers issues (http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/nagpur/Tiwari-to-head-panel-to-curb-farm-distress/articleshow/48208959.cms)

Lessons from the campaign

Small contributions from a large number of people is more effective than large contributions from a select few
There are many concerned individuals around us and the challenge is to simply reach out to them
Providing financial help is important as an immediate relief
Questioning the government's in action is also equally important
Understanding the underlying issues leading to the distress is a must
If we 275 of us can help contribute to a 10 lakh fund, then imagine what 2000 of us can do

The campaign also helped us reach to thousands of people and helped us highlight the issues - Thanks to Milaap for providing the platform, thanks also to TheBetterIndia's (http://www.thebetterindia.com/23841/us-based-indian-helping-indian-farmers-vidarbha-suicides/) coverage for highlighting the issues.

So whats next?

Provide updates from the families who had received financial help
Continue to work with Kishore Tiwariji
Work on creating awareness not just about the farming crisis, but also about the various government policies that were created to benefit the farmers
Work on bringing technology closer to the farmers

Other Updates on the project:

The campaign will end on July 31st. A big thank you to all the donors and to all the friends and their friends in helping us realize that together we can do small things that can have a big impact.

The entire money has been sent to Kishore Tiwariji as of today i.e. July 26th 2016

23rd March 2015

Dear well-wisher,

Thank you for your wonderful support. As of today we have raised a total of Rs 534131. As stated in the project details, the money will be used to serve two purposes

To help provide immediate relief to the suicide family victims
To organize samvad yatra which will be headed by Kishore Tiwariji, VJAS (Vidarbha Jan Andolan Samithi). The yatra is an outreach program
- to reach out to especially the farmers in distress
- to help organize a representation to the authorities detailing clear demands
- to create awareness about govt. policies, some of the best farming practices (Reduce dependency on pesticides etc.)

Rs3,98,065 has already been transferred to VJAS as of March 13th. The initial list of the families can be found here - https://sureshe.files.wordpress.com/2015/03/list-of-farm-widows-families-and-details-1.pdf

More updates will be sent in the coming weeks.

In the meanwhile, please feel free to share any comments/suggestions or anyother questions you may have.

thanks

Suresh & Kishore Tiwariji