G8 news

Neoliberalism kills

THE NEW Labour government is responsible for the deaths of over 4,000 Indian farmers according to a shocking study by an international charity.

The government's Department for International Development (DfID) gave £1.65 million to Adam Smith International to promote neo-liberal policies in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh.

Between 1999 and 2004 farmers there were persuaded to abandon subsistence farming, eg rice production, and switch to cash crops such as cotton and sugar cane. Subsidies for fertilisers and tools and cheap government loans were slashed, forcing the farmers to obtain high-interest loans.

The value of these cash crops then became virtually worthless, leaving the farmers with unpayable debts. The result has been a wave of suicides by ruined poor farmers.