UPA seeking solution for farmer's suicides: Pawar

Dehra Dun, Sep 17: Union Agriculture Minister and Nationalist Congress Party President Sharad Pawar today expressed UPA Government's concern over the increasing cases of farmers suicides and said the it was seized of the matter and seeking to find a lasting solution to the problem.

''It is very heartbreaking and alarming also that those who manage the food security of the country are choosing the path of suicide to geth rid of their problems and difficulties,'' he observed while inaugurating the Third National Convention of the NCP here.

Attributing the farmers suicide to a number of factors like uncertainty of monsoon, crop failure, indebtedness and other economic, social and psychological reasons, the Union Minister said the Government had made an in-depth inquiry about this emerging problem with the help of institutions like Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research, Management Institute of Government of India as well as taking feedback from a number of responsible NGOs.

He pointed out that only 40 per cent of the agricultural land was being irrigated today and rest of the farming was dependent on monsoon. The fertility of the land was also reducing. In addition, the farmers sometimes did not get appropriate prices for their crops.

Though government's credit policies for farmers did help them a lot, still a large number of farmers got trapped by private money lenders and ended up paying exhorbitant rate of interest on the loans.

Besides, Mr Pawar said the natural disasters also rendered the farmers helpless. The latest havoc due to the floods in Gujarat, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Madhya Padesh and Andhra Pradesh, Orissa and Jammu and Kashmir were cases in point.

In addition, the financial burden on poor farmers got aggravated due to their own family related responsibilities. In most cases, the loans taken for agricultural purposes got diverted towards fulfilling these responsibilities, ''Eventually, the poor farmers fall into perpetual indebtedness and become defaulters. The unfortunate ones, who cannot sustain the burden at times resort to suicides.''

Reiterating NCP's commitment to Indian farmers, the Union Agricultural Minister pointed out that his Ministry had taken certain important decisions to overcome the agrarian crisis. The Ministry had developed rehabilitation package that covered 31 districts in four states of Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Karnataka, and Kerala. He had been informed by the scientific community about 240 new varieties of seeds having been developed.

Mr Pawar also listed other measures taken for the betterment of agricultural sector, like designing of several schemes and missions which were in the process of approval, enhancement of sustainability of dry land farming and setting up of terminal markets in several towns. The UPA Government had taken a decision to double the agricultural credit in three years. The rate of interest for credit had been reduced to 7 per cent for crop loans below the limit of Rs 3 lakh.

Speaking of UPA government's initiatives in international affairs, Mr Pawar wholeheartedly supported and welcomed Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's initiative for normalising relations with Pakistan, inspite of cross-border terrorism.

He said his party was for continuous people-to-people interaction among the SAARC countries but expressed concern over the tragic development of the killing of most popular Baloch leader Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti by the Pakistani army.

Speaking about his party's progress during the last seven years since its birth, the NCP President said as a recognised national party by the Election Commission, the NCP was performing a leading role in Maharashtra and an important one in Goa.

The party had impressive presence in Meghalaya, Kerala, Arunachal Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Bihar, Asom, MP, Delhi, Uttaranchal, Gujarat, Manipur and Haryana. It had 10 members in the Lok Sabha, 5 in the Rajya Sabha, and 108 MLAs in the country.

UNI