Govt: sensitive towards farmers' suicide; cases have reduced

The government tonight said it is sensitive towards the problem of suicides among the farmers as the Opposition slammed it over the issue in the Lok Sabha.

Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh insisted that the number of suicides by the farmers have come down in the last two comparative years of 2015 and 2016.

Citing figures of the National Crimes Record Bureau (NCRB), he said in 2015, the number of suicide cases was 12,602 which declined to 11,458 in the successive year.

"Farmers suicide is a cause of concern... Suicides should not take place, whether it is one or one lakh. We are very sensitive to this issue. There are various reasons for the suicides and the only solution is to increase farmers income," he said while replying to a debate on the agrarian situation in the country.
 

In an apparent attack on the previous government, Singh said that farmers' plight would not have worsened had the earlier dispensations taken the right steps.

He said the government has taken various measures to double their income by 2022 and Prime Minister Narendra Modi was himself monitoring this endeavour.

"We have made a roadmap for 2017 to 2019 and we are taking various steps in that direction," Singh said.

"If we fail to achieve the goal, the Opposition has every right to scrutinse us," he added.

While he was replying to over five-hour debate, Congress leader Jyotiraditya Scindia wanted the minister to specify whether the government would grant loan waiver to the farmers.

There was response from the minister to this, following which the Congress members staged a walkout.

As Congress memembers were walking out, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ananth Kumar attacked the main Opposition party, saying it was not serious about the problems of the farmers as very few of its members were present to listen to the reply on such an important matter.

"We thought they will participate till the end on this serious issue but they have very little concern for the farmers. Also, there are only two or three of them in the House even though we held the debate after they asked for it," he said.

Earlier, the Opposition accused the government of not being sensitive towards farmers' issues as it demanded loan waiver, better minimum support price and criminal cases against those responsible for death of farmers during agitation in Madhya Pradesh recently.