At least half a dozen farmer suicides have been reported from the rural part of Telangana.
A sing-song mourning ritual punctuated by shrill wails rents the air in the villages of the Medak district of Telangana as virtually every day this week, at least half a dozen farmer suicides have been reported from the rural part of the state.
Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao's departure on 8th September for a China tour on a private jet hired for Rs 2 crores sits in sharp contrast with families devastated by drought for the second year in a row.
"There is not even a word of reassurance. The Chief Minister is not even talking about the crisis,'' said Puliraju, a school teacher who has been meticulously recording farmer suicide deaths in Medak district for the last 10 years.
In the 15 months since its existence as a state, Telangana has officially reported 409 farmer suicides. Other reports and inquiries put that number at over 1,400.
40-year-old Kishtaiah hung himself in Pirlapally village of Telangana.
"But the government did not even declare drought last year. And they have failed to prepare for what is a recurring crisis,'' agriculture scientist GV Ramanjaneyulu points out.
We visit Pirlapally in Medak district, hardly eight kilometres from the Chief Minister's sprawling farmhouse. On Wednesday, 40-year-old Kishtaiah hung himself in this village, one of nine farmers in the state who chose to end their lives that day.
Nalla Andal, a cotton farmer with two acres of land, says the Chief Minister should be here, among his people, to hear their concerns.
"He is going all over the world but won't come here to see how we are living and dying,'' she says angrily.
Most farmers in Telangana sow cotton - a high-risk crop as seeds, fertilisers and pesticides are expensive but it needs much less water than paddy and is hardier than maize.
"We got spurious seeds which didn't grow well. We have got no insurance either. We have to take what the sahukar (Moneylender with ancillary services ) gives,'' says Mallesham, a farmer in his 30s.
Farmers say that they are already struggling with loans they couldn't pay back because last year's crop failed.
"The heart can take only so much," says Kanakkamma, a 28-year-old from Thimmapur. "We farmers are in such deep distress that people are killing themselves in every village. We thought our chief minister would come to our help. He must. He hasn't done so far.''