FARMERS’ SUICIDE -TIMES EXPOSES GOVT. STAND

FARMERS’ SUICIDE
NGO blames govt for down playing agrarian crisis

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Nagpur: With eight more farmer suicides reported from the region on Sunday, the state government has been accused of playing down agrarian distress that has already resulted in around 600 suicides in cotton belt of the region this year. ‘‘The government and chief secretary Johny Joseph's claims on Saturday about sharp decline in cases of farmers committing suicide for purely agrarian reasons, are grossly misleading,’’ said Kishore Tiwari, president, Vidarbha Jan Andolan Samiti (VJAS), a farmers' rights group that is keeping a close tab on the situation. ‘‘The government has admitted that out of 600 farmers ending their lives, compensation has been paid only to 85. Ratio of rejection of compensation cases has shot up in recent months,’’ noted Tiwari adding that there have been instances of relatives of the suicide victim farmer being harassed so that they do not claim compensation. After a high-level review meeting presided over by the chief secretary in which the divisional commissioners of Amravati and Nagpur district besides secretaries of department concerned and district collectors participated, it was announced that relief measurers under the Prime Minister's package and that of the state government were reaching the farmers and suicides because of agrarian reasons were on the decline. "It's shocking. If there is no crisis, why have the PM and the state come out with relief packages," asked Tiwari. He said that the lack of a food security for farmers had only worsened the situation. "To get government aid, the victim's family has to prove that he had suffered crop loss and was under debt burden. That is reason most cases are being rejected," said Tiwari.