A bench comprising Chief Justice J S Khehar and Justices D Y Chandrachud and S K Kaul said that the Centre should file the proposed line of action to be adopted by the state governments for dealing with the issue.
"Farmers committing suicides is a serious issue. You (Centre) should bring the proposed policy dealing with all the real issues which force the farmers to take extreme step. We are with you. You should crystalise on four-five real issues which deal with the farmers and try to address these," it said.
He said that now the government is directly procuring food grains from the farmers at the minimum support price and they do not need to take help of the middlemen or market.
The ASG said that for crop loss or crop failure, the government is extending compensation and a new mechanism has been put in place for the purpose.
Also Read
"Insurance cover has been increased for the farmers. Earlier, it was for those who took agriculture loan but now it has been extended to all the farmers," he said.
Senior advocate Colin Gonsalves, appearing for NGO Citizens Resource and Action and Initiative, said that over 3000 farmers have committed suicide in the last few years and the proposed policy should deal with all those real issues which affect the them.
The bench said, "agriculture is a state subject and the
Centre will coordinate with all the states and come up with a line of action to address root cause of farmers committing suicide."
Expressing grave concern over farmer suicides, the apex court had earlier said that it felt the government was going in a "wrong direction" in tackling the real problem.
Asking the Centre to apprise it of the policy roadmap to address the burning issue, the court had said the issue of farmers' suicide was of "extreme importance" and paying compensation to the families of such victims "post-facto" was not the real solution.
The ASG had earlier told the court that the government has initiated many schemes for farmers and the 2015 crop insurance scheme would drastically reduce such fateful incidents.
The plea was filed by the NGO on the plight of farmers in Gujarat and suicide committed by many of them there. The bench had expanded the scope of the petition to the entire country.
The apex court is also seized of another PIL filed by Punjab-based NGO Youth Kamal Organisation through its President Happy Mann on the issue of farmer suicides in which the Centre had in 2015 stated that number of suicide deaths of farmers had declined since 2009 and there were factors other than agrarian which led them to take the extreme step.
Referring to the data maintained by National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) as per which the number of suicides by persons self-employed in farming/agriculture in 2009 was 17,368 which had come down to 11,772 in 2013.
It had submitted that as against the total population of 122 crore (estimated) during 2013, the total number of suicides in the country was 1,34,799, of which suicides under the category of self-employed (farming/agriculture) was 11,772 which is 8.73 per cent of total suicides.