The Congress today created uproar in the Chhattisgarh Legislative Assembly on the second day of the monsoon session alleging that suicides by farmers are on rise due to "wrong policies" of the BJP government.
The Congress members staged a walk out after the Speaker rejected their demand for discussion on the issue through an adjournment motion notice.
Soon after Zero Hour, state Congress president Bhupesh Baghel, MLA Dhanendra Sahu and others moved an adjournment motion notice saying that incidents of suicides by farmers are coming to the fore.
Citing incidents of farmers' suicides in Kawardha, Mahasamund, Bemetara and Bilaspur districts, Congress MLAs alleged that these farmers have killed themselves due to indebtedness.
The condition of farmers has become worse due to wrong policies of the state government and large scale corruption in the implementation of welfare schemes for farmers, Congress MLAs stated in the notice for the adjournment motion.
As per the government records, 1271 farmers have committed suicide between April 2015 and June 30, 2017, the Congress said, adding that farmers are under stress in the last two years dye to low rainfall and drought.
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The Congress alleged the government neither distributed the drought relief funds in time nor it ensured that crop insurance claims of cultivators are settled.
In his reply, Agriculture Minister Brijmohan Agrawal rejected the charges and said it was incorrect to say that 1271 farmers have committed suicide between April 2015 and June 2017 due to loan burden.
"During 2015 to June 25, 2018,seven farmers have committed suicide owing to loan issue while the remaining three due to personal reasons. The state government had declared 117 tehsils in Kharif year 2015 and 9 tehsils in 2016 and 96 tehsils in 2017 as drought affected.
"During these periods of natural calamity, the state government stood beside the farmers and extended all possible assistance to them," he said.
In 2016, free paddy seeds were provided to farmers up to 1 hectare land and under the scheme 6.95 lakh farmers were distributed 4.55 lakh quintal seeds, the minister said.
During the drought years, the farmers availed the benefit of the crop insurance scheme.
Under the National Agriculture Insurance Scheme in 2015, Rs 696 crore was distributed as the claim settlement to 6,66,405 farmers. Similarly, under the Pradhan Mantri Crop Insurance Scheme, Rs 1256.91 crore was distributed among 5,44, 619 farmers in 2017, he said.
"Farmers are being provided with short-term agriculture loans at zero per cent interest," the minister said, adding that farmers were also being given bonus against procuring their paddy under the minimum support price (MSP).
Speaker Gaurishankar Agrawal, however, rejected the adjournment motion after the agriculture minister's statement.
Enraged by this, the Congress MLAs staged a walk out.