麻豆社

Mark Tully traces the roots of Indian farmers' despair - and some possible tactics for defeating it. Making a living from the land is never easy, even when the weather is kind. People in rural India are often also at the mercy of slow, complex or corrupt banking systems as they try to raise credit for seeds, fertilisers and equipment. Much-publicised suicides have repeatedly drawn attention to their problems - yet one initiative after another from central government seems to have tried and failed to alleviate these hurdles. Could a network of "barefoot professionals", from dentists to bankers to solar-panel installers, do any better in addressing Indian villagers' needs?

Photo: Boys in Tilonia, Rajasthan, help to process a harvest of mustard seed. (c) Getty Images/Dario Mitidieri