The Human Rights Forum (HRF) and Rythu Swarajya Vedika (RSV) demanded that the State government initiate steps for immediate and proper implementation of G.O.Ms. No. 43, which provides a financial and rehabilitation package to the family members of those farmers who have committed suicide.
Speaking to a select media here on Saturday after a three-day fact-finding mission to four revenue divisions from March 23, the members of the HRF and the RSV said that they have no hesitation in stating that all of the families of the deceased farmers are eligible for the financial assistance package of ₹7 lakh as per the GO.
“During the last three days we have visited about 18 farming families who have lost at least one member by suicide,” said V.S. Krishna, A.P. and TS coordinator of HRF.
“In all these cases it appears that there was a correlation between farm-related operations and economic distress, eventually leading to suicide. However, they have not received any assistance from the government so far,” he said.
In many of these cases, even the mandal-level committee, with MRO as chairman, has not gone to the villages and spoken with family members, he alleged.
‘High indebtedness’
All 18 were tenant farmers who ended their lives because of the appalling state of institutional credit, leading to excessive reliance on private moneylenders resulting in high indebtedness, he said.
These farmers also lacked access to reliable and reasonably priced inputs and a remunerative price for their output, said B. Kondal, RSV State committee member.
The HRF members alleged that the successive governments have failed in their obligations on all these fronts thereby rendering farmers helpless.
They ended their lives, either by consuming pesticide or hanging, after being driven to utter despair as they were unable to repay these loans which they had taken at high interest rates from private lenders. All these deaths date from June 2019 onwards and as such they fall within the purview of G.O. 43, said A. Ravi, HRF State vice-president.
To add to their woes, not a single of these 18 farmers were issued the Crop Cultivator Rights Card (CCRC). In each of these cases, proof of tenancy could have been easily established had the administration been serious at all, the HRF and RSV members pointed out.
Families of these farmers are in a state of acute deprivation with all of them being under regular and persistent pressure from moneylenders to pay up. “Six of the seven families we visited in Lingapalem and Chintalapudi mandals of West Godavari district are Dalits and are in a desperate need of help. It must be remembered that for every farmer who has committed suicide, there are many others facing extreme despair. In fact, the total number of suicides of farmers in the Godavari districts is a staggering 87, since June 2019 (46 in East Godavari and 41 in West Godavari). Only 7 families have been extended ex gratia in East Godavari and 20 in West Godavari,” said Mr. V.S. Krishna.
‘One-time loan settlement’
The HRF and RSV members also urged the government to amend G.O. 43 and insert a provision of one-time loan settlement in the financial package, so as to mitigate the debt burden of the families.
