Criticised by the opposition for its failure to implement farm debt waiver and checking “increasing” incidence of farmers’ suicide, Congress-led Punjab Government on Monday came out with official data to claim that the incidents had seen a decline.
Rubbishing the opposition claims that the suicide cases by farmers in the State had doubled since his Government announced farm loan waiver, Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh assured that the notification to formally implement the waiver would be issued shortly.
The Chief Minister, referring to the data available, pointed that the number of suicide cases involving farmers had actually declined in 2017 as against the corresponding period of the previous year from 153 in March-September 2016 to 131 in the same period this year.
“This is in sharp contrast to the claim of the leader of Opposition Sukhpal Singh Khaira that 250 farmers had taken their lives in the past six months,” he said.
Capt Amarinder, asserting that even a single farmer’s death was a matter of pain and concern for him, said that while his Government did not want to engage with either the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) or the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) in a numbers game on such a critical issue, he would not allow these parties to harm the interests of the farmers with their false and motivated propaganda.
“The necessary notification to relieve the affected farmers of their debt burdens, which had been mounting over the years due to Government apathy to their problems, is all set to be issued in the next few days and the government is in the process of finalising the modalities for the same,” said Capt Amarinder.
He reiterated that those farmers covered in the first phase of the loan waiver, as announced in the Assembly, need not pay a single paisa of their loans.
Pointing out that the Akalis had failed to initiate even a single step to waive off the farmers’ loans or to otherwise ameliorate their sufferings, the Chief Minister said his Government was going all-out to deliver on its promises to the farming community despite the financial mess inherited from the previous regime.
“The ball for the waiver of loans up to Rs two lakh for farmers with up to five acres of land, and payment of Rs 2 lakh to other small and marginal farmers, has been set rolling in June itself when the announcement was made in the Punjab Vidhan Sabha,” the Chief Minister said while lashing out at the opposition for trying to mislead the people with baseless and unfounded statements.
Such fraudulent statements were discouraging the farmers and pushing them towards suicide by misleading them into believing that the Government was not sincere in its commitment, said Captain Amarinder.
He charged the opposition with indulging in such negative rhetoric for political gains without taking into account the impact it would have on the minds of the distressed farmers.
Referring to data available with the Government, he said that a total of 997 farmer suicides were reported from March 2007 to March 2017, when the SAD-BJP regime was in power.
“Of these, 155 took place between January and December 2015 and 225 in 2016 - the last two years of the Badal rule, which saw a sharp spike in the number of such incidents as more and more distressed farmers started taking the extreme step since conditions went from bad to worse, with no hope for succour,” he added.
According to a survey carried out by Punjab State Farmers’ Commission and Punjabi University, Patiala, the debt per household which was about Rs 1.79 lakh in 2005-06 had gone up to Rs 4.74 lakh in 2014-15.
He noted that the period March-September also clearly showed that, far from increasing, the number of suicide cases involving farmers had actually declined in 2017 as against the corresponding period of the previous year.
On the other hand, the compensation awarded by Congress Government to the kin of farmers committing suicide had seen a significant increase over that provided by the previous Government. “While the total compensation given in 2014 stood at Rs 148 lakh, in 2015 the amount was Rs 389 lakh and in 2016 it was Rs 429 lakh. In 2017, the erstwhile government paid Rs 27 lakh only as compensation till it remained in power,” he said.
He added that in contrast, Congress Government had not only hiked the compensation from Rs 3 to five lakh, but had also announced a total compensation of Rs 311 lakh in 114 cases of farmer suicides in April, June and August this year.