Farmers in Maharashtra not to celebrate Diwali India News and Travel Times Provides India-centric and other News and Features

Soybean and cotton farmers in Maharashtra 's Vidarbha region have planned to boycott Diwali, the festival of lights, this year after receiving poor crop yields. Soyabean and cotton are primary crops grown in the drought-prone Vidarbha region. Due to delayed monsoons, poor rainfall and pest attacks, the crop has been damaged this year. Farmers have little money left after cutting and selling their crop. A majority of the farmers have invested their money on the crops, but have incurred losses. Therefore, this year, they have decided to boycott Diwali celebrations. "Diwali is for high-class people and not for us. This year, we didn't have good crop yields. Most of the crops have bee damaged. Whatever money we had, we have invested it on crops," said Datta Shirke , a farmer. Soyabean crops are usually ready for the market before Diwali. But this year, due to delay in crop cutting, the crop is still lying in the fields. Besides, pests have also damaged the crop. "We had some hope this year of receiving a good crop. Then, we could have celebrated Diwali. But now that all our crops are destroyed, we are in no mood to celebrate Diwali. We have no money to spend during this festival," said Manohar Nagose , another farmer.