The Indian government informed the country’s Supreme Court on Tuesday that despite a multi-pronged approach to improve income and social security of farmers, over 12,000 suicides were reported in the agricultural sector every year since 2013, reports Times of India.
A bench of Chief Justice J S Khehar and Justices D Y Chandrachud and Sanjay Kishan Kaul heard the government`s steps taken to ameliorate the condition of those associated with farming and the counter view by petitioner NGO `Citizen Resources and Action Initiative`. At the end, it said, "Today, we find it hard to intervene in the case. All the steps that need to be taken is squarely in the executive`s domain, what should be the minimum support price for agricultural produce as well as crop insurance."
However, it took exception to the Centre`s stand that the Niti Aayog had been requested to put forth a strategy to address the issue of farmers` suicide. The bench said, "You (the Centre) are giving everything to Niti Aayog. How much can it handle?"
Additional solicitor general P S Narasimha said, "The government is addressing the low income of farmers. Agrarian distress is manifest from a large number of farmers living below the poverty line and unfortunate incidents of suicides can be addressed by enabling farmers to increase their income. With this understanding, the government is aiming to double farmers` income by the year 2022."
The bench gave the Centre four weeks to file response to data placed by the NGO`s counsel Colin Gonsalves, who argued that the much-hyped PM Fasal Bima Yojana had not reached even 20% of small and marginal farmers as the Centre had parked thousands of crores of rupees with private insurance companies. He also requested the court to direct the Centre to subsidise agricultural work.
The Centre gave statistics on suicides in the farming sector and compared it with the total number of suicides in India. "A total of 12,602 persons involved in farming sector -- 8,007 farmers-cultivators and 4,595 agricultural labourers - committed suicide during 2015, accounting for 9.4% of total suicide victims (133,623) in the country," the Centre said.
Maharashtra topped the list with 4,291 suicides, followed by Karnataka with 1,569, Telangana 1,400, Madhya Pradesh 1,290, Chhattisgarh 954, Andhra Pradesh 916 and Tamil Nadu 606. Together, these seven states accounted for 87.5% of total suicides in the farming sector in the country -11,026 of 12,602.
In 2014, 12,360 persons in the farming sector - 5,650 farmers-cultivators and 6,710 agricultural labourers -committed suicide, accounting for 9.4% of the total number of suicides (131,666) in the country, the Centre said. In 2013, the number was 11,772, accounting for 8.7% of the 134,799 suicides in the country.