By this presentation i want to draw your attention towards the reasons of farmer suicides, and the actions which may be taken by the government to stop farmers from committing suicides because this is the high time we really need to do something to stop the suicides.
12. Farms are confiscated due to inability to pay back high
interest loans. ƒ
Harassment of the family by corrupt moneylenders.
ƒWidows burdened with the new responsibility as the sole
breadwinner.
ƒChildren sometimes lose both parents to suicide. Forcing
their education to a halt, especially if they have to work in
order to provide for their needs
13. Immediate compensation for crop failure.
Effective crop insurance to cover all crops and all
farmers.
Profitable prices, direct procurement from farmers.
Modify export/import policies and tariffs in favour of
Indian farmers.
Bank credit to all farmers with adequate scale of
finance.
Seed support, manure, cost of cultivation can be
provided.
Interest free loan and free health insurance services
are also be provided.
What government can do?
14. Madegowda,48, a sugarcane grower in Kothathi village of
Mandya district, committed suicide on July 25. Speaking
to Frontline, his friend Jawaregowda, who was also the vice-
president of the gram panchayat, said Madegowda’s last crop,
grown on three acres (one acre is 0.4 hectare) of leased land
(he grew paddy on his own land extending to two acres) had
yielded 120 tonnes of sugarcane. “Last year’s crop, which was
to be harvested in July 2014, was lifted by three sugar mills in
Mandya only in October 2014,” said Jawaregowda. The delay
meant a loss in the crop’s sugar content, and the average price
was Rs.2,250, which was below last year’s minimum support
price (MSP) of Rs.2,500 a tonne. To make matters worse,
Madegowda received payment for only 30 tonnes, from one
mill. This implied that the unpaid dues from the last harvest
amounted to more than Rs.2.25 lakh. Meanwhile, Madegowda
had invested in his next crop, amounting to about Rs.1.25
lakh an acre, according to Jawaregowda.
15. Since Madegowda had already exhausted the credit limit
available from institutional sources (the local State Bank of
Mysore branch and the cooperative), he was forced to turn to
“hand loans” (story on page 13) to the extent of Rs.3 lakh, half
of which was charged at 1.5 per cent a month, implying an
annual rate of interest of 18 per cent. “How can a small
farmer approach the sugar mills for what is due to him when
even the Chief Minister says he is helpless in getting them to
pay us?” asked Jawaregowda.
