An all-party Punjab Vidhan Sabha Committee on farmers’ suicide met the members of Punjab Agriculture University, ludhiana, who shared a study on the issue claiming that no less than 15,000 farmers or farm labourers have committed suicides between 2000 and 2015.
The panel’s meeting with the PAU experts came days after it was given extension to submit its report by the Vidhan Sabha during the recently-concluded winter session. The five-member Vidhan Sabha Committee, constituted in compliance of the resolution put forward by the Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh in the June budget session, was asked to look into the increasing incidences of farmers’ suicide and suggest the way out.
It was asked to meet the family of farmers who had committed suicide to probe the reasons that forced them to take extreme step, and prepare a comprehensive report on the issue.
The penal was earlier expected to table its report in the winter session, but sought extension till January in an attempt to make its recommendations wide-ranging.
The panel members — including its chairman Congress MlA Sukhwinder Singh Sarkaria, Congress MlA Kuljit Singh Nagra and AAP MlA Nazar Singh Manshahia — met PAU Vice-Chancellor Dr Baldev Singh Dhillon, and the head of the Department of Economics and Sociology Dr Sukhpal Singh, among others to discuss the issue of farmers’ suicides.
The study pointed at the heavy debt burden as the main cause for the famers committing suicide. It pointed that about 83 per cent of the total 15,000 farmers who committed suicide between 2000 and 2015 was due to indebtedness.
Among those committed suicide, majority are the small farmers, the study found with the Malwa belt districts of Sangrur, Bathinda, Mansa and Barnala bearing the major brunt of the menace.
“The meeting has been very fruitful and enlightening. The PAU study is very detailed and thorough and would surely help us to chalk out our recommendations or policies. It has highlighted the reasons, debt being the main cause. The government is dealing with that, but we have to see that farmers don’t get trapped in the debt-trap any further,” panel member Nagra told The Pioneer.
During the meeting, the experts stressed on changing the farmers’ mindset asking them to focus mainly on their profits rather than increasing crop production which would go a long way in improving their financial situation, besides other suggestions.
Already, the panel has formulated a slew of suggestions and recommendations to curb disturbing trend of farmers’ suicides, which is continuing even after the Congress Government has notified the loan waiver scheme.
“After meeting the farmers across the state, all the members are of the view that the rising cost of input and diminishing profit margins are the cause of concern for the farmers…For the same, we have asked them to cut down their expenses. One way is to hire the agriculture equipment from cooperative societies which otherwise are very expensive but can be borrowed on subsidized rates,” Sarkaria has told The Pioneer.
The Committee has also asked the state Cooperation Department to provide a robust mechanism to the farmers by upgrading the Cooperative societies and its Agro Centres. The panel has been extensively touring the state, meeting the kin of the farmers who had committed suicide, and farmers’ families.
The Committee has also worked to find out the reasons for poor economic condition of the farm labourers, besides suggesting ways to bail out this downtrodden community from economic crisis.
Capt Amarinder had claimed that more than 6,000 farmers have committed suicide during the erstwhile SAD-BJP Government.
The committee also includes Congress MlA from Balluana Nathu Ram, and Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) MlA from Sanour Harinderpal Singh Chandumajra as members.