Peepli LIVE: Right to Live?

  Peepli [LIVE] is the story of a farmer in debt who gets ready to commit suicide. He thinks of this route after learning about a government scheme that compensates the families of farmers who die this way. Yes, the government, that is supposed to enforce a law that considers suicide a crime, is creating conditions that encourage farmers to commit this offence. Sounds funny? It’s not. The truth is that law is Greek, even to the lawmakers of this country.
 
Peepli LIVE: Do we have the Right to Life?
 
Peepli [LIVE] depicts the stark reality of rural India in the form of a question – Will 70% of the Indian population, which represents the foundation of the Indian economy, i.e. agriculture, ever have the right to life? Who guarantees that our Constitution offers the fundamental rights of its citizens? Article 21 of the Indian constitution lays down that nobody should be deprived of protection of life. The punch line here is that the law for the right to protection of life is provided against the State. So, are the government departments and administrative authorities that are responsible for the miserable conditions of the tillers of the land, forcing them to opt for suicide, punishable by law?
 
Will peasants in India ever be free to remain associated with their land? Will they ever be confident to be born and die with the liberty of nourishing the soil of their farms just like they nurture their own young ones? Will they know, by experience, that this country has laws that give them some rights? Here’s hoping that the answers to these questions are in the positive.