I know that you are an economist and I am an ordinary farmer.

But I am gathering the courage to tell you that 70 per cent of India's population just do not have the purchasing power to buy two meals a day.

You must create trust about the system in the minds of the farmers. We request you to consider four demands that we have:

1) We want the debt waiver raised to Rs.25,000. It will help the poorest farmers.

2) Even after the waiver of debt, if he is not in position to pay back his new loans please give him the capacity to pay off his new credit. That can be possible only if you get us good prices for our produce. To do that, increase the import tariff on cotton to 60 per cent. And if the US doesn't decrease its subsidy on cotton then increase subsidy to those of us who are ready to export cotton.

3) Make provisions to induce jawar farming by offering a subsidy of Rs 1,000 per acre. This will create additional income; give fodder to farmers and help boost animal husbandry.

4) The inequality between India (urban India) and Bharat (rural India) is increasing. India is becoming Super India, while Bharat is turning into Ethiopia. To bridge the divide, include farmers and farm labourers in the Sixth Pay commission. On the basis of such minimum wages let the Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices fix the minimum support prices. The government too must intervene to ensure farmers get the price.

I have spent a lifetime finding out why the Indian farmer remains poor.

As a landowner, I am part of the system which pays minimum wages to farm labourers and still doesn’t earn enough because of the government's policies. In Maharashtra, the Cotton Monopoly Procurement Scheme was working fine but around 1996 late payment to farmers crippled them. Just to get cash in hand farmers started selling to private traders at a loss of Rs 200 to Rs 300 per quintal.

We are forced to be part of the low cost economy.

People living in the cities want cheap labour. Indian industry's prerequisite is cheap labour. Indian labour can be cheap only if food is cheap. To keep the cities labour cost-effective and to provide the cities food at the minimum cost, farmers of India are exploited.

Ujjawala Petkar, the widow of a farmer who committed suicide, met the prime minister. She has two daughters, and no source of income.

Ujjawala Waman, a class XI student, told the prime minister that she doesn't want to marry a farmer. She said none of her friends want to marry farmers. How will all the girls of her village find salaried men?

One farmer asked the prime minister: 'When I was getting Rs 2,500 per quintal I could not pay back my loan; how do you expect me to pay back now when I am getting only Rs 1,700?'

Another farmer had a spinal operation recently. His friends and relatives pooled in the Rs 40,000 hospital bill. He wanted better health services in villages. An MRI in Nagpur city costs Rs 4,000, he pointed out. Few villagers can afford that kind of money.

Another farmer said four ago back he took a bank loan of Rs 150,000 for a water pump, but he never got the power connection to run the pump. How will he pay back now?

Singh, who listened patiently throughout, said, 'There is a need to change the system.'

We were touched when he said that there should not be a single farmer committing suicide.

But, the relief package he has announced is disappointing. Three important farmers' demands -- import duty hike, waiver of debt, not just waiver of interest, of loan up to Rs 25,000, and the advance bonus restoration -- have been ignored.

The prime minister's package is more suitable for the irrigation industry and equipment traders; not for farmers.

Image: Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh with the suicide-affected families of farmers in Waifed Village..

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