The despair and suicide of indebted farmers are tragic and recurring themes. In India, their epicenter lies in Vidarbha, in Maharashtra, where farmers grow genetically modified cotton. The tragedy, for the families and communities left behind, has been caught by photographer Johann Rousselot, at Oeil Public. He shows the body of Praveen Vijay Bhakamwar, whose accumulated debts of Rs 40,000 – less than US$ 900 – pushed him to suicide. Bhakamwar leaves behind three daughters and a son.
Rousselot captures something that eludes many reporters on the subject – that the deaths don’t happen in a vacuum. Communities are torn apart. And usually, women are left to pick up the pieces.
[Via Xavier Dias]