Sat Oct 04 11:23:54 UTC 2025: Okay, here’s a news article summarizing the provided text, focusing on the key points and adopting a journalistic tone:
**Headline: Farmer Suicides Spark Call for Loan-Free Villages at Karnataka Arts Event**
**Heggodu, Shivamogga, October 4, 2025** – Concerns over the rising rate of farmer suicides in India took center stage at Kalegala Sangada Matukate, an arts and conversation event organized by Ninasam in Heggodu, Karnataka. Chukki Nanjundaswamy, a prominent leader of the Karnataka Rajya Raitha Sangha (KRRS), passionately advocated for the creation of loan-free villages, highlighting the desperate circumstances driving farmers to end their lives.
Speaking at the event on October 3rd, Nanjundaswamy cited National Crime Records Bureau data, revealing that a farmer in India dies by suicide every hour. She criticized the dismissive treatment of these tragedies as mere news snippets, questioning why farmers disproportionately take their own lives due to debt. “Why only farmers die due to the burden of loan, as if only farmers borrow money?” she asked, emphasizing the need for a serious examination of the underlying causes.
Nanjundaswamy also addressed the migration of youth from agricultural backgrounds to urban centers, forced to take on precarious gig economy jobs despite owning land. She pointed to the societal pressures faced by young people from farming families, including difficulties finding marriage partners, as contributing factors to their disillusionment with agricultural life.
She argued that farmers have been trapped in a “chakravyuha” after the Green Revolution and become servants to capitalist forces. Nanjundaswamy urged activists and artists to unite against capitalist forces seeking to control natural resources, emphasizing the need to ensure food remains safe and untainted.
The event also featured Hemalatha Jain, a textile expert and educator, who shared her journey to revive traditional weaves in Karnataka. Jain, formerly a researcher at Kansas State University, recounted her decision to return to India after realizing that indigenous knowledge was being documented and patented by Western entities. Her research led to the rediscovery of 55 lost weaves, and she called for greater efforts to document and popularize native expertise.
The day’s program included a performance of Dastan-e-Irfan-e-Buddh in the Dastangoi form, and an interaction with Vidya Rao, a renowned singer of Thumri and Dadra music, and concluded with a staging of Medea by Manju Kodagu.
The event underscored the urgency of addressing the agricultural crisis and preserving traditional knowledge.
First Piper 