In Lok Sabha, members express concern over farmers’ plight

They always received step-motherly treatment, says Danish Ali

“The Ministry of Home Affairs has confirmed through the National Crime Records Bureau that 11,379 farmers died by suicide in 2016. This translates into 948 suicides every month, or 31 suicides every day. In the 17th Lok Sabha the questions about farmers’ suicide were asked 10 times but besides the standard two answers, there is little actual work to improve the plight of the farmers,” said Suresh Kodikunnil in the Lok Sabha on Thursday. He was participating in a discussion on “crop loss due to various reasons and its impact on farmers.”

Fifty-one members participated in the discussion under Rule 193, noted Speaker Om Birla.

Crop audits

Stating that there is a need to conduct crop audits, Jasbir Singh Gill (Congress) said: “You should find out how much potato, how much maize, how much wheat you need and then grow the same crop.”

Danish Ali maintained that farmers in India always received step-motherly treatment and that they were cheated every day.

“It is unfair that farmers have to pay as much as 18% GST on pesticides,” said Bhartruhari Mahtab (BJD).

Defending the measures taken by the Modi government, BJP’s Virendra Singh said the “problem of agriculture and farmers did not arise in a day, it will not be solved in a day.”