AndhraNews.Net - Agriculture Minister's statement in the Rajya Sabha on suicide by farmers

New Delhi: July 14, 2004

Following is the text of statement of the Union Agriculture Minister made in the Rajya Sabha today in response to the Calling Attention Notice on the incidents of suicide by farmers in various parts of the country and remedial measures taken by the Government:-

"Cases of suicide by farmers have been reported from the States of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Orissa, Maharashtra, Punjab, Rajasthan and Tripura. The number of cases of suicide has been significant in Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Orissa and Maharashtra in the period reported. However, the Government of Orissa has clarified that the cases of suicide by farmers in the State were not due to causes related to agriculture.

The main causes as reported by the State Governments for committing suicide by farmers are crop failure, indebtedness, high rate of interest on loans, drought, social & economic insecurity, incurable ailments, addiction to alcohol and family disputes.

In order to tackle the problems of the farmers the Common Minimum Programme of the Government of UPA has identified areas requiring focussed and priority attention. Some of the important action points are doubling rural credit in three years, easing the burden of debt, high interest rate and nursing cooperative back to health, dry land farming, development of horticulture, improvement of water management and protection to farmers from imports and falling international prices.

In order to achieve these objectives FM in his budget speech has announced a number of initiatives to provide relief to the farmers. Notable among them are accelerating the completion of irrigation projects, investing in rural infrastructure, providing farm insurance and livestock insurance, improving agriculture product markets & promoting agri-businesses and appointment of a Task Force on reforms in the cooperative banking system.

It is proposed to undertake restructuring of debt of the farmers by the commercial banks, Regional Rural Banks and cooperatives. Debts of farmers in distress will be rescheduled/restructured in districts declared as calamity affected by the State Government with longer repayment period at current interest rates including an initial moratorium of two years. Farmers in arrears will receive the benefit of rescheduling of loans in default to enable them to become eligible for fresh credit. The system of one time settlement for defaulting small and marginal farmers will be put into operation.

The Central Government has taken up various schemes and programmes for enhancing production of agriculture and horticulture crops like Macro-Management scheme, Technology Mission on Horticulture in the North-East including Sikkim, Uttranchal, Jammu and Kashmir, Integrated Scheme of Oil seeds Pulses Oilpalm and Maize, Technology Mission on Cotton, Technology Mission on Coconut and On Farm Water Management in Eastern India. The farmers are receiving financial assistance under different schemes. Government has also provided safety nets in the form of National Agriculture Insurance Scheme (NAIS), Farmers Income Insurance Scheme (FIIS) against production loss and Minimum Support Price (MSP) & Market Intervention Scheme (MIS) against decline in prices.

The drought relief assistance is given to the States both in the form of financial assistance and foodgrains as and when necessary. Since August, 2003, Andhra Pradesh has received Rs. 140.86 crores and 7.2 lakh MTs of foodgrains, Karnataka Rs. 332.15 crores and 7.29 lakh MTs of food grains and Kerala Rs. 30.65 crores and 0.61 lakh MTs.of food grains.

State Governments also provide relief to the affected families. Government of Andhra Pradesh have decided to provide financial assistance i.e. an ex-gratia of Rs. 1-00 lakh to the family/next of kin of the deceased farmers as economic support besides loan settlement upto a ceiling of Rs. 50,000 as one time settlement to creditors, each family is given a house under Indira Awas Yojana, admission to wards in Social Welfare Residential Schools Hostels. In Karnataka, compensation of Rs. 110.22 lakhs to affected families of the farmers has been given. The interest on short terms loan has been waived and a rebate of 5.5% is allowed on medium term loan. Further fertilizers and seeds are supplied at subsidized rates. In Maharashtra the heirs of the deceased were given assistance @ Rs.1 lakh from the CM Relief Fund.

The Government is fully conscious of the hardships of the farmers and will spare no efforts to solve their problems."

Press Release: PIB

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