Terming the Government’s decision to compensate the families of farmers who commit suicides as a step in the wrong direction, the Supreme Court on Friday asked the Centre to strike at the root cause and present a road map within a month on the schemes to help prevent such suicides.
Dealing with a PIl on the issue of increasing farmer suicides, a Bench of Chief Justice JS Khehar, Justices DY Chandrachud and Sanjay Kishan Kaul, said, “The issue is of extreme importance but we tentatively feel you (Centre) are going in the wrong direction. If a farmer commits suicide being unable to pay his loans, the remedy is not to give him grants but to get to the root as to why he commits suicide.”
The trend of farmer suicides has shown a worrying increase over the past two years. The National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) recorded 5,650 farmer suicides in 2014. This figure showed an increase of nearly 42 per cent in 2015 touching 8007, with Maharashtra alone accounting for 3030 farmer deaths. The NCRB report blamed erratic and inadequate monsoons to be a chief reason behind suicides.
Additional Solicitor General (ASG) PS Narasimha informed the Bench that suicides are not entirely due to financial reasons as there are sociological aspects to it. Narasimha said that the Agriculture Ministry has in 2016 introduced a scheme that will be a “game changer”. He explained that the Government was conscious of the issue and under the scheme has secured the interest of the farmers by allowing him crop insurance on even upto 30 per cent of crop damage, which earlier used to be 50 per cent.
The Bench reiterated its concern. “If you pay for suicides you are not dealing with the problem. When a bank issues loans, it makes sure that the farmer has means to repay. But there are extraordinary situations. You must have a scheme that automatically deals with a situation when there is a drought or when there is a farmer.”
Senior Advocate Colin Gonsalves, who appeared for the petitioner NGO CRANTI (Citizens Resource and Action Initiative), pointed out that the problem of farmer suicides still persists as the Government schemes offer a quick-fix solution that never achieve the desired result.
Giving another illustration, the Bench explained to the Centre that the farmer is the victim even when there is a bumper crop production. “When the farmer gets a surplus crop production, he is never able to break even as he resorts to distress selling as the Government is not willing to take his produce. For instance, sugarcane farmer who gets a bumper production in a year ends up selling to the mills at a very low price. The Government needs to evolve something that can give him succor.”
ASG Narasimha sought two weeks’ time to prepare a detailed response. The Court asked the Centre to prepare a roadmap providing for such schemes aimed to give succor to the farmers in order to prevent them from committing suicide. The case will be heard next on March 27.