Orissa orders probe into two farmers’ suicides

October 13th, 2009 BHUBANESWAR - Two Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders in Orissa were arrested for allegedly blackening the face of a government official who submitted a false report on farmers' suicide to the state government, police said Tuesday. Jayabrata Dey and Debashis Purohit were arrested in Sambalpur town, about 320 km from state capital Bhubaneswar, for allegedly blackening the face of Deputy Director of state Agriculture Department D.C.

October 5th, 2009 France Telecom executive quits amid suicidesPARIS — France Telecom SA said Monday that the company's second-in-command has quit, after weeks of mounting criticism over management's handling of a spate of suicides by employees. Louis-Pierre Wenes will be replaced as deputy CEO in charge of French operations by Stephane Richard, a former chief of staff for France's finance minister who joined the company in July as head of international operations, France Telecom said in a statement.

September 30th, 2009 24th suicide at France TelecomPARIS — Officials say a France Telecom employee has killed himself, becoming the giant phone company's 24th worker to commit suicide in 18 months. Officials in the eastern Haute-Savoie region said the 51-year-old man jumped off a bridge onto a highway on Monday.

August 27th, 2009 Drought, debt lead to Indian farmers' suicidesHYDERABAD, India — Dozens of impoverished farmers struggling with debt and poor rainfall have killed themselves in southern India in recent weeks, leaving behind families plunged even further into poverty, activists and politicians said. Nearly every day, newspapers report more farmer suicides in Andhra Pradesh, a state of 80 million people where 70 percent of the population depends on agriculture — and which has suffered badly this year from weak monsoon rains.

July 19th, 2009 NEW DELHI - US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton Sunday said farmers need financial security to prevent them committing suicide as has been happening in India, and stop them from drifting away from agriculture, like in the US. "Yeah, it (farmers' suicides) is a great concern.

June 29th, 2009 BHUBANESWAR - The southwest monsoon Monday covered entire Orissa, bringing new hope for the state's farmers, officials said. Farmers who had not sown their crops till a few days back have now started sowing their fields while those who had gone in for early sowing can now hope the seeds will bloom.

June 24th, 2009 BHUBANESWAR - Farmers in Orissa have been told to go for short and medium duration paddy crops in upland non-irrigated areas this kharif season as there was a delay in the arrival of the monsoon, officials said Wednesday. Orissa is one of the major rice-growing states in India, with about four million hectares under paddy cultivation.

June 15th, 2009 BHUBANESWAR - The delay in the arrival of rain has dampened the spirit of an annual agricultural festival in Orissa with the celebration remaining low key in many places. The three day Raja festival, beginning on the first day of the Hindu month of Asadha, marks the beginning of the rainy season and new agricultural year.

April 15th, 2009 BHUBANESWAR - Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi Wednesday blamed the Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik's government for the communal violence in Orissa last year. 'Clashes took place in the name of religion in Kandhamal and elsewhere and the state government was responsible for spreading disharmony and hatred,' Gandhi told an election rally in Kendrapada town, about 100 km from here.

April 15th, 2009 BHUBANESWAR - Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) prime ministerial candidate L.K. Advani Wednesday, at a rally in Orissa, said that farmer suicides are happening only in Congress-ruled states and blamed the party for their plight.

April 8th, 2009 BHUBANESWAR - The Nationalist Congress Party alliance with the Left parties and the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) in Orissa is 'only Orissa-specific', NCP chief Sharad Pawar said here Wednesday. 'Our arrangement is only Orissa-specific,' Pawar told a press conference, addressed jointly with Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) politburo member Sitaram Yechury and BJD chief Naveen Patnaik.

March 31st, 2009 BHUBANESWAR - Senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader L.K. Advani Tuesday launched his party's poll campaign in Orissa by attacking the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government on issues like inflation and farmer suicides.

February 16th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader L.K. Advani had a verbal brawl with members of the ruling United Progressive Alliance (UPA) in the Lok Sabha over the compensation paid to families of farmers who committed suicide after crop failure.

January 12th, 2009 BHUBANESWAR - Farmers' leaders in Orissa Tuesday warned the state government against allowing use of Hirakud dam water for industrial purposes, neglecting irrigation. More than 10,000 farmers held two massive meetings in Sambalpur district near the Hirakud dam and said they are unhappy with the reported permissions the government has given recently to two big industries to draw water from the dam.

December 26th, 2008 CHANDIGARH - A group of ex-servicemen and a farmers association here Saturday demanded a central agency probe into the mega projects initiated by S.F. Rodrigues, the administrator of Chandigarh.