As the tragedy of farmers committing suicide due to crop failure stares the five-month-old Telangana government, the gruesome tales continue to haunt villages across the State.
Nearly 330 farmers were said to have ended their lives since September 20 when the rains receded and led to a severe demand for power to energise the 20 lakh pumpsets to save the standing crop. The government did not deny the distress death of farmers but it was confined to rain-fed areas.
Already in debts, the delayed monsoon forced the 28-year-old Janganaboina Paramesh to sow cotton seed twice but they did not sprout due to extended dry spell.
Losing hope if he would get back what he had invested on his 14-acre cotton crop back, Paramesh committed suicide by consuming pesticide on July 4 this year -- leaving his three below 6-year-old children in the care of his 22-year-old wife, Padma.
A neighbour Vanam Venkataiah said that Paramesh had been cultivating cotton since eight years but never reaped good harvest due to either dry spell or excess rainfall. He also said Paramesh had borrowed money from private money lenders to a tune of Rs 5 lakh and he also got Rs. 1 lakh from banks excluding the interest amount.
Human Rights Forum (HRF) visited Paramesh’s house recently and concluded that the district administration never made any attempts to compensate the family.
Moneylenders at doorsteps
Avadhani
Marepally (MEDAK dist.): Machepally Sattemma is in her late thirties. After working the whole day in the field, she would shudder to return home as she sometimes encountered unexpected guests – the persons who extended loan to her husband, Mallesham.
Mallesham committed suicide on July 6 after incurring recurring losses in cotton farming. In addition to the one-acre land that her husband owned, he took lease of another six acres at Rs. 8,000 per acre.
Mallesham paid Rs. 1.8 lakh in lump sum at the beginning by borrowing on a hefty interest. This was four years back but his crop never yielded returns to the expected level.
He also constructed a small house which cost him about Rs. 2 lakh. Not knowing how to come out of the debt trap, Mallesham hanged himself at his farm.
Sattemma with tears in her eyes is clueless how to repay the debt. This is not an isolated instance in the village as three others also committed suicide earlier.
Neck deep in debts, tenant farmer gives up
K.M. Dayashankar
This is the plight of a tenant farmer from the interior upland Thotapalli village of Husnabad mandal in Karimnagar district.
He has no agricultural land. But, his quest to provide food grains to the country and eke out his living had forced him to take up agriculture by turning into a tenant farmer. He used to take up agriculture by taking land on lease in his native village.
Similarly, during this khariff season also, he had taken four acres of land on lease at the rate of Rs. 20,000 per acre for one-year period and cultivated maize. Unfortunately, his crop had withered due to prevailing drought conditions and non-availability of adequate power.
In the process, he had incurred debts to the tune of Rs. 2.5 lakh. Unable to clear the debts following the failure of crops, he consumed pesticides and committed suicide on September 23 this year. Polu Rajaiah, 52, had displaced his family including -- wife, two sons and a daughter.
Polu Komuramma, widow of Rajaiah, said that Rajaiah never them about the debts he made for the cultivation. Now, people have started coming and demanding us to repay the loans . “How would I repay the loans when I lost my bread-winner,” she wails.
“We don’t even have a house in the village to sell and repay the loans. We live in a rented house and the government had not even provided us a house under the Indiramma housing scheme,” she complains.
She said that her husband had gone in for maize crop during this kharif season as he had incurred losses in the past due to cultivation of cotton crop following the excessive rainfall. Hoping that he would reap riches with the cultivation of maize crop, she said that Rajaiah had used more fertilizer. But, the entire crop withered forcing him to commit suicide, she cried. Her elder son works as farm labourer while the younger one completed B Tech and is waiting for employment. Her daughter was married.
