The plight of farmers
The end of the Cold War, and subsequently the spread of globalisation, together with pursuance of democracy and market economy, is creating social disorders, corruption and suicide by the farmers. The pan-Islamic and the Communist parties are adjusting to the prevalent conditions and they too are opting for free, fair and credible elections and restoration of democracy by abandoning their earlier methodology of revolutions, very often marred by bloody clashes. If we scrutinise the account sheet of the agricultural workers, a grim picture would emerge of the imbalance between the value of the inputs in the debit column and the sale prices of their produce , and the cash in bank and in hand in the credit column. Islam denounces suicide, and like other religious orders, forbids interest and usury business and trade which hurt most the marginal income groups. Therefore, extending collateral and interest-free loans, and that too through the non-profit entities like post offices, the state can address the plight of many ill-fated farmers and labourers.
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