Farmers should increase willpower, not commit suicide:Pawar

New Delhi, Mar 9 (UNI) Why farmers from more distressed states like Orissa, Bihar and Jharkhand do not commit suicide while their counterparts in prosperous states like Punjab, Maharashtra and Karnataka give in.

''Is it because they are more used to adversity?'' The question was raised by Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar during Question Hour in the Rajya Sabha today.

''This should be looked into,'' he said replying to supplementaries on the circumstances and reasons of farmers committing suicides in Vidharba and other regions of the country where crops failed.

The Minister advised farmers to increase their willpower as ''suicides were not the way to tackle the problem.'' He stressed the need for providing counselling facilities to them in the Vidharba belt and noted that organisations like the Art of Living of Sri Sri Ravishankar were doing some work in that direction.

UNI