P Sainath : The Real Picture
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Sep 10 2006
OPINION
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What the heart does not feel, ...
After 15 years of a battering from hostile policies and governments, the world of the peasant has turned highly fragile. But the onus of changing is on the farmer. Not on those driving a cruel process and system, who have only contempt for ordinary folk, writes P Sainath.
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Sep 04 2006
OPINION
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A withering crisis
In Maharashtra, robber baron politics exists on a scale many other states cannot dream of. Here, one finds crony capitalism at its worst; two or three parasitical and incestuous lobbies can get anything they want done. There is much the state can do differently, but then it will be not be the Maharashtra of our times, writes P Sainath.
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Aug 27 2006
A final note on credit
: A final note on credit
The announcement of fresh crop loans came late in the sowing season for Vidarbha. And, say the suicide notes of farmers, the talk at the top has not been matched by credit at the bottom. Meanwhile, the rain is adding to the devastation, writes P Sainath.
Aug 09 2006
"Give us a price, not a package"
: "Give us a price, not a package"
Vidarbha's farmers are unhappy with the "relief packages" announced by the State and the Centre. Debt relief and access to credit are certainly important to them, but they want the larger issues driving the suicides addressed first, writes P Sainath.
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Jul 16 2006
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Politics of packages, packaging of politics
Had there been a waiver of debt of up to just Rs.25,000, more than 80 per cent of Vidarbha's farmers would no longer have owed the banks money. People thought that waiver would come. It didn't, and the sense of being let down is great, writes P Sainath.
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Jun 30 2006
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How Mumbai came to discover Vidarbha
The Prime Minister's upcoming visit to Vidarbha has had an impact even before he's reached there. It would, however, be a transient impact if he does not see through the charade. The mess there starts right at the top. Vidarbha's condition is the product of design, not decay, writes P Sainath.
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Jun 15 2006
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Slowing down the suicides
There are several immediate steps both the Centre and the Maharashtra Government could take to ease the situation in Vidarbha. These would not solve the long-term crisis, but would surely slow down the farm suicides that continue to rise, writes P Sainath.
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May 29 2006
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Waiting for 'anna' in Vidarbha
The failure of the banks has seen new kinds of creditors emerge in Vidharbha. Some of these now come in from neighbouring States - with a 'home delivery system' of loans. Many farmers owe money to banks, cooperative societies, input dealers, private lenders, close relatives - and 'anna.' Life is about borrowing from one lender to pay off another, writes P Sainath.
May 23 2006
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Three weddings and a funeral
As farm suicides in Vidarbha cross the 500-mark in under a year, families are holding funerals and weddings at the same time. Sometimes, on the same day. In moving shows of solidarity, very poor villagers are pitching in to help conduct the marriages and funerals of down-and-out neighbours, writes P Sainath.
May 14 2006
OPINION: PRIVATISATION OF WATER
Thirst for profit
OPINION: PRIVATISATION OF WATER : Thirst for profit
People pay more for water than corporates do; in many parts of the country soft-drink giants get it almost free. Whole communities lose out as heavyweights like Coke step in. The corporate hijack of water is on and if the current trend continues, India's water sources will be in private hands before long, writes P Sainath.
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Palagummi Sainath is the winner of the 2007 Ramon Magsaysay award for Journalism, Literature, and Creative Communication Arts. (click to read India Together's interview with P Sainath)

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Over decades of reporting, he has established himself as among the pre-eminent chroniclers of rural life in our times. His stories, photo-essays, and other work record an India seldom visible to many of us. Sainath received the A.H. Boerma Award in 2001 for his contributions. In July 2004, he was awarded the Prem Bhatia Award for excellence in political reporting and analysis for 2003-04 in recognition of his 'outstanding, indeed exceptional, work on the problems of the poorest of the poor, especially in Andhra Pradesh.' He is the Rural Affairs Editor of The Hindu.