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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Elders seek special session to discuss farmers' suicides by Gargi Parsai

Elders seek special session to discuss farmers' suicides by Gargi Parsai

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published Published on Dec 16, 2011   modified Modified on Dec 16, 2011

Expressing concern over the agrarian crisis leading to farmers' suicides in the country, Rajya Sabha members on Thursday sought a special seven-day session to discuss the issue in depth.

Initiating a short-duration discussion on the agrarian crisis, BJP leader M. Venkaiah Naidu sought the special session to discuss the situation and find solutions. Mr. Naidu said that while the economy was growing at 7-8 percent, the farm growth was only around 2 per cent. “While 2.15 lakh farmers have committed suicide in the last ten years, Parliament, political parties, Planning Commission and media are biased and indifferent to the agriculture sector. Farmers have begun to declare crop holiday—this is a disturbing trend.”

Calling for a separate agriculture budget, Mr. Naidu said all the key recommendations of the Swaminathan Commission and the Hooda Committee must be implemented. Farm credit should be made cheaper, crop insurance scheme should be made into agriculture income scheme, the minimum support price should be fixed at the weighted average cost of production plus 50 per cent as profit to farmers.

Mani Shankar Aiyar (nominated member) said there was a link between the suicides, particularly in Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, and the cash crops, specifically those of cotton.

Assailing foreign seeds companies, he said seeds of multinational corporations like Monsanto had only a 60-per-cent germination rate. “So, an average farmer, if he buys 100 bags, knows that only 60 of them are actually going to produce a crop... Is it fair, reasonable, that the world's biggest seed companies, like Monsanto, should be allowed to get away with this?” he said.

Urging the government to change its farm policy, MP and Communist Party of India (Marxist) State Committee member Moinul Hassan said farmers were not getting enough fertilisers and seeds in time.

Shivanand Tiwari of the JD(U) criticised the lack of official patronage for coarse cereals and said the government had, in recent years, started following the diktats of the World Bank, the IMF and MNCs. “If you cannot improve the situation for farmers, you should quit,” he told Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar. Samajwadi Party leader Ram Gopal Yadav sought pension for farmers after they cross 65 years.

“The major cause for farmers' suicide is indebtedness. Farmers live in debt, die in debt and leave their heirs in debt,” said D. Raja of the CPI, mentioning that P. Sainath of The Hindu had been highlighting.

The Hindu, 16 December, 2011, http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/article2719185.ece


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