The heartrending account of Punjab farmers’ woes and apprehensions of more farmers’ suicide in future could not do the 60-year-old farmer Surjit Singh any good, who allegedly committed suicide in the wake of mounting debt.
Surjit Singh was the same farmer who had met Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi in Sirhind and briefed him about the distress caused to farmers by crop loss due to unseasonal rains.
Just more than a month ago, the young Gandhi scion, who had toiled hard to cultivate popularity for himself in the country’s food bowl by sweating it out in a train’s general compartment, followed by state’s mandis to wipe the tears of state’s farmers, had then assured Surjit Singh and other farmers to do as much to help them as a leader of an opposition party could.
However, there was no respite for the State’s farmers after that. Even the Centre’s announcement of giving “higher compensation” to the farmers who have suffered losses in unseasonal rain and hailstorms in March and April failed to provide any relief to them as they have been claiming that they have “not received any money so far”.
Surjit Singh took an extreme step as he was unable to pay a loan of Rs seven lakh due to mounting losses. His wheat crop was destroyed by unseasonal rain in March and April.
Across Punjab, crop in approximately seven lakh acres of land was affected.
Expressing shock, the Congress party has called for agriculture emergency and a debt waiver for the farmers.
“The situation calls for agriculture emergency to tackle the agrarian crisis on emergency basis, lest it is too late,” warned the former Chief Minister and Congress Deputy leader in lok Sabha Capt Amarinder Singh.
Expressing his condolences and sympathies to the bereaved family, Capt Amarinder said: “Their loss is irreparable. On the one hand, the family is burdened with the debt and now it has lost a precious life to the vicious debt trap.”
He regretted that almost every day, there were reports of suicides committed by distressed and debt ridden farmers and neither the state, nor the Central Government, appeared to be concerned in any way.
“It is a tragic state of affairs for the farming community as a whole, and death seems to be the only way out,” he said while emphasising the need to tackle this crisis on emergency basis.
On the other hand, the Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee (PPCC) president Partap Singh Bajwa, who attended Surjit Singh’s cremation, called upon the Narendra Modi government to concentrate on providing succour to the beleaguered farmers rather than focusing on the anti-farmer land legislation.
He reminded the Prime Minister that his predecessor Dr Manmohan Singh had released `72,000 crore for the farmers and it was high time that the present government extended that policy of waiving debt.
“The accumulated debt of the farmers is nothing as compared to the non-performing assets of the banks which is a nomenclature for bad debt extended to the corporate section,” said Bajwa.
Taking Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal to task for having failed the farming community, Bajwa demanded that compensation of `10 lakh should be given to the family of farmer.
On PPCC’s behalf, Bajwa announced Rs two lakh for the family of deceased farmer.