Germans lend helping hand to farmers' widows in Vidarbha

Nagpur, Mar 16 (UNI) In a rare display of compassion, people from Germany have contributed financial aid for widows of the debt-ridden farmers, who committed suicide in Vidarbha region of Maharashtra, after reading about it in a Munich-based daily.

The money will be handed over at a brief programme to be held in Pandharkawda in Yavatmal district of the region tomorrow.

A spokesman for Vidarbha Jan Andolan Samiti (VJAS), a voluntary organisation working among farmers in the region, told UNI that an amount of around Rs 5 lakh would be distributed among 50 such widows.

The amount would be given to each woman to meet certain needs like repayment of loans, fees for the education of children and acquiring household items, the spokesman said.

The beneficiaries are the 'most vulnerable' among the farmers' widows, living in extreme poverty with nobody to support them, and including those from tribal families, the spokesman said.

The money was contributed by Germans, who were moved by a series of stories about Vidarbha's agrarian crisis in the Munich-based daily Sueddeutsche Zeitung by its journalist, Karin Steingberger, who visited the region in December last, the VJAS spokesman said.

Indienhilfe eV, a voluntary organisation based in Germany, is releasing the actual amount through its India office since the money, which was sent to the daily's office, could not be remitted directly from Germany because of legal difficulties, he said.

Kumar Roy and Sibani Bhattacharjee, representatives of Indienhilfe eV in India, will hand over the amount in cash to the beneficiaries tomorrow, he said.

Mr Roy and Ms Bhattacharjee were currently visiting some of the bereaved families in Vidarbha, he said. Indienhilfe eV has worked in Latur in Marathwada region of Maharashtra, which was hit by a devastating earthquake in September 1993, the spokesman added.

UNI