[lbo-talk] Palagummi Sainath and Pankaj Mishra on Farmers' Suicides in India

[Jim Devine]

> Let's look at a couple of dozens of countries that the World Bank
> ranks above India:
> 
> 121 Albania 5,070
> 124 El Salvador 4,980 c
> 125 Swaziland 4,970
> 126 Philippines 4,890
> 127 Paraguay 4,870 c
> 128 Jordan 4,640
> 130 Armenia 4,270
> 131 Guatemala 4,140 c
> 132 Egypt, Arab Rep. 4,120
> 133 Guyana 4,110 c
> 134 Morocco 4,100
> 135 Sri Lanka 4,000
> 136 Azerbaijan 3,830
> 137 Ecuador 3,690
> 138 Jamaica 3,630
> 139 Syrian Arab Republic 3,550
> 140 Indonesia 3,460
> 142 Nicaragua 3,300 c
> 144 Lesotho 3,210 c
> 145 India 3,100 c

Yoshie, great post! But it's important to remember that per capita
income can rise at a rapid pace (and per capital income can be high)
even though inequality is rising quickly (and inequality is high),
along with environmental pollution and the like.


> Almost three thousand farmers committed suicide in
> the southern state of Andhra Pradesh after the government, advised by
> McKinsey, cut agricultural subsidies in an attempt to initiate
> farmers into the world of unregulated markets.

This sounds a lot like a modern (neo-liberal) version of the primitive
accumulation that Marx described.
-- 
Jim Devine
"Segui il tuo corso, e lascia dir le genti." (Go your own way and let
people talk.) -- Karl, paraphrasing Dante.