Storm over Agri Min's reply on farmers' suicide

A reply by Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh in the Parliament on reasons for farmers’ suicide in country gave Opposition parties another reason to pin down the Government. To a question raised by CP Narayanan of CPI(M) in the Rajya Sabha on the number of farmers, who have committed suicide in the country during the last three years and whether the reason was lack of proper financial compensation to poor and small farmers, Singh in written reply mentioned causes for suicides to agrarian reasons as indebtedness, crop failure, drought, socio-economic and personal. However, quoting the National Crime Record Bureau in this regard Singh also listed general causes of suicides as love affairs, family problems, unemployment and impotency, which triggered sharp reaction from Opposition.

JD (U) leader KC Tyagi, while dubbing the Minister insensitive, said it was an “insult” to farmers. He threatened to move a privilege notice against the minister for “misleading” Parliament. Terming Singh’s remarks as irresponsible, SP leader Naresh Agrawal demanded an apology from the minister while CPI-M leader Sitaram Yechury described as “ridiculous” reasons adding ground reality was different.

Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi, addressing a rally in Anantpur in Andhra Pradesh, said Prime Minister Narendra Modi should ask his Ministers to visit the houses of farmers to see what is going on. He also alleged that the number of distress suicides has gone up by 26 per cent in last one year since NDA came to power and the reply was meant to divert attention from the actual reasons of suicide.

However, Singh clarified that the answer was based on a report by the NCRB which his ministry government quoted in the Parliament reply. Incidentally, in a reply to another question, Singh had mentioned borrowing from non-institutional sources as the major reason for debt related farmers’ distress suicide.

“The department considers the issue of suicide by farmers with great sensitivity and deals it with all the seriousness it deserves. The department considers that it is necessary to provide truthful information collated from different sources so as to enable an informed discussion on the subject,” the Agriculture Ministry clarified in a statement later.

The number of suicides committed by farmers attributed to agrarian distress during 2012, 2013 and 2014 as reported by State Governments was 1,066, 890 and 1,400 respectively. The figure up to June 2015 is 263, the reply said.