Watching my Father

The Documentary Podcast

BBC

Society & Culture, Documentary, Personal Journals

4.3 • 2.6K Ratings

🗓️ 30 May 2017

⏱️ 27 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Farmers taking their own lives in India has been in the news for quite some time and this story is about how it has impacted on the mental health of communities. As too much rain or droughts continue to destroy crops making farmers unable to pay debts, families fear that their breadwinners could be the next to kill themselves. Navin Singh Khadka follows families in Marathwada, the worst hit district in the state that saw more than 400 farmers kill themselves last year.

Transcript

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0:00.0	I had no idea that he was going to kill himself, no idea at all.
0:14.0	Here in this remote village in the state of Maharashtra in India, Pandurang Chormare is still
0:25.0	in a state of shock.
0:29.0	There was no indication as such.
0:32.0	This was not to happen, but I don't know how did my father do it.
0:42.0	Twenty-year-old Pandurang was working as a waiter in Mumbai, the state's capital
0:48.0	500 kilometers away from here.
0:51.0	Last February, without any warning, his father committed suicide.
0:56.0	He was a farmer.
0:59.0	There is a sense of fear and anxiety here.
1:03.0	Just next door, another farmer is also burdened with loans.
1:08.0	He has been unable to repay.
1:10.0	And his son is fearful.
1:15.0	The fare is always there.
1:17.0	What step he will take and when?
1:19.0	How would we know?
1:21.0	He knows that the money lenders will come to him first before coming to us.
1:25.0	We get more concern when he's drunk.
1:28.0	Because he could do anything then.
1:31.0	We therefore need to keep an eye on him.
1:33.0	I sometimes follow him to the farm, even when I have no work there.
1:44.0	In western and southern states in India, the number of farmers committing suicide is horrendous.
	...

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