Members of the Opposition TDP staged a walkout from the Legislative Council on Thursday expressing “dissatisfaction” over the reply of Agriculture Minister K. Kanna Babu on the issue of farmers’ suicide.
In a short discussion on the subject, TDP MLCs G. Srinivasulu, Rajendra Prasad, Dokka Manikya Vara Prasad and others said that the absence of a coherent policy on the agriculture sector had resulted in a spurt in suicides by the distressed farmers.
‘57 deaths’
They said, in the 57-day-old Jagan Mohan Reddy government, as many farmers had ended lives, reflecting the gloom that had gripped the farm sector.
They said the farmers were in dire straits in the absence of water for their crop, remunerative price to their produce, inadequate seed and fertilizers, and mounting debt. In his reply, Mr. Kanna Babu said farmers’ suicide showed a decreasing trend from 2004 to 2013, but thereafter the numbers started increasing.
Reasons
He cited reports submitted by the three-member committees in districts, which had identified certain reasons for the deaths. They included non-functioning of borewells, farmers growing commercial crops involving high production cost, non-remunerative prices, oral tenancy agreements that made farmers ineligible for bank loans, farmers borrowing money from private lenders at high interest rates, adverse climatic conditions and heavy expenditure incurred by them on their children’s education, medical needs and children’s marriage.
The Minister said, according to the committees, 454 farmers had committed suicide between 2014 and 2019 and a sum of ₹1,838.79 lakh had been paid towards ex gratia to 420 families.
However, according to the District Crime Records Bureau (DCRB), 1,160 farmers had taken their lives during this period, but the district-level committees confirmed only 454 cases.
The Minister said the government would reverify the remaining 706 cases and pay an ex gratia of ₹7 lakh to each of the families of those eligible for it.
Financial assistance
He said, besides financial assistance to the deceased farmers’ families, a series of steps were taken such as YSR Rythu Bharosa, interest-free loans, crop insurance component, and initiatives such as promulgation of AP Land Licensed Cultivators Act, 2011, to provide loan and other benefits such as eligibility cards to the land licensed cultivators, issue of certificate of cultivation and making bank loans available to them.
He said implementation of farm mechanisation was proposed to bring down the cost of cultivation and increase the yield.
Farmers were also being encouraged to take up zero budget natural farming and a World Bank-funded integrated irrigation and agriculture transformation project was being implemented in Prakasam and four other districts of Rayalaseema at a cost of ₹1,000 crore, the Minister said.
The TDP members termed farmers’ suicide as “killings by the government” and walked out of the House.
