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Reason: many farmers in the Vidarbha region of Maharashtra had committed suicide. It was to be a frantic call. A news item that seem to be making the rounds of newspapers and television studios every no and then, was barking back at the apathetic nation.

Not that we didn't care for the poor farmer but the gravity of the situation was to collectively hit us like a bolt from the blue.

A worried prime minister announced a Rs 37.5 billion ($835 million) relief package that included debt relief but clearly it was too little too late.

That India farmers had been committing suicide in the hinterland of India was vaguely known - Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Kerala and parts of Karnataka were worst sufferers. That it had something to do with Bt cotton was known. Vaguely one wondered why Indian government could not protect the interest of its farmers.

But 2006 saw nearly 1,000 farmers committing suicide in the Vidarbha alone - large number by any stretch of imagination. What had compelled the Indian farmer to just desperate measures?

Experts opined that farmers were feeling the pinch of unfair trade practices under the WTO regime that protected the Western, say the American farmer. They said farmers were caught in the vicious cycle of debt traps and low prices.

They further added that Bt cotton was the main culprit. That Monsanto, the manufacture of Bt Cotton, said it was resistant to boll weevil - the main cotton pest. It has mentioned that the crop thus produced would require just two sprays of insecticide for every crop, instead of the eight.

It sold for about four and a half times the cost of normal seed, but many farmers opted to buy it because they believed it was indestructible and would give a higher yield. They were devastated when many of the Bt cotton plants were afflicted with a reddening that destroyed much of the crop leaving the farmers with unusually high debts.

The Indian government on its part had withdrawn market controls, tariffs and subsidies for agriculture under the directions of the World Bank while thus promoting multinationals such as Monsanto. No proper infrastructure such as irrigation and marketing facilities was provided to the farmers.

Contrast this with the huge subsidies the US government gives to its farmers. The farm bills in the US runs into billions of dollars.

By allowing multinationals into the farm sector in India, our government had forced the Indian farmer to compete with the American farmer, they said.

Away from the comforts of middle class India, the other India was bleeding. As if poverty, backwardness and illiteracy weren't enough, the Indian farmer had to now fear an unknown entity - international market norms.

Would he ever be able to break of jinx of debts? Would he ever be able to reap the benefits of favourable prices? God alone knew.