Sugarcane farmer's suicide to haunt Siddaramaiah Govt

Ahead of the Assembly session in Karnataka, the ghastly death of a sugarcane farmer Ninge Gowda is going to haunt the two-year-old Congress Government captained by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah.  Ninge Gowda, a 50-year-old farmer, reportedly in heavy debt, immolated himself by setting his sugarcane field on fire and then jumping into it at Pandavapura in Mandya district in the Cauvery heart land. The incident has given ammunition to the Opposition parties both the BJP and the JD(S) to gun Siddaramaiah Government which has positioned itself as a pro-farmer.

The incident is a startling reality of the plight of sugarcane growers in the State and also shows apathy of the ruling Government in dealing with the problems of the farmers. The incident has made hundreds of farmers who blocked the Bengaluru-Mysuru highway, seeking compensation for the victim’s family and Government action against sugar mill owners for not paying arrears and not crushing their current crop.

Karnataka Rajya Ryota Sangha(KRRS) and other farmers’ organisations across the State have been agitating for a week over factory owners not clearing arrears and crushing their current crop due to stocks piling up and sugar prices falling.No doubt it has now become political and the State is witnessing a bout of padayatras by Opposition BJP and the JD(S) to gain political mileage and out to corner the ruling party. JD(S) leader and former Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy is on a padayatra and BJP is going to follow him. The Karnataka Assembly’s Monsoon Session is going to begin in Belagavi from June 29 and the Opposition parties are ready to take on the Congress and this has become a major issue. Former Prime Minister and JD(S) chief HD Deve Gowda and BJP strongman BS Yeddyurappa and other leaders visited the deceased farmer’s house and demanded immediate intervention of the Government to save farmers.

Meanwhile, angered over the alleged failure of the State Government to make the sugar factories pay their dues, the cane growers have now decided to stage a fast in front of the Suvarna Vidhana Soudha in Belagavi from Monday when the Monsoon Session would commence demanding that the Government itself should pay their dues.

According to Karnataka State Sugar cane Farmers’ Association president Kurubur Shanthkumar that the cane growers now want the Government itself to pay their dues on behalf of the defaulting sugar factories. He said “The Government could recover the amount later by auctioning the sugar stocks or confiscating the property of the defaulting sugar mills”.

According to available statistics, the records production of sugarcane for the third consecutive year in the State led to sugar prices slump to `19 per kg from `32 in March.Meanwhile, to counter the Opposition parties the Government has decided to seize sugar from 45 factories and auction it to pay the farmers.

According to State Cooperation Minister HS Mahadev Prasad, he has ordered sugar mill owners to clear dues of `925 crore they owe to farmers since the 2013-14 fiscal. Karnataka is the third largest sugar-producing State in India after Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra.