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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Prevent farmers' suicides rather than give compensation, SC tells TN -Krishnadas Rajagopal

Prevent farmers' suicides rather than give compensation, SC tells TN -Krishnadas Rajagopal

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published Published on Jul 7, 2017   modified Modified on Jul 7, 2017
-The Hindu

"Your job is to take steps to prevent farmers’ suicides and not go around distributing compensation after the suicides", the Supreme Court told the Tamil Nadu government on Friday.

The court said the “actual job” of the government is to “directly address the ground reality of farmers suicides”.

“Your approach has to be preventive and not compensatory,” a Bench of Justices Dipak Misra and A.M. Khanwilkar told Additional Solicitor General P. Narasimha, appearing for the State government.

“If there is coercive steps taken against farmers by banks for defaults in agricultural loans, there should be intervention from you,” Justice Misra said.

Advocate R. Rajaraman, counsel for an association of Tamil Nadu farmers, said the reason behind farmers was the loss of dignity.

“Banks take coercive steps if farmers fail to pay their agricultural loans. This hurts their dignity and sense of pride. Most of them are small farmers, who opt to take their own lives,” he said.

The court’s amicus curiae and advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan seconded the submission, saying “if the bank takes away a man’s tractor because his crops failed because of heavy rains, such a step is indeed coercion”.

Justice Khanwilkar asked the State, “Is there any mechanism whereby a distressed small farmer subject to coercion can move the administration? Can he even do so?”

Justice Misra said, “And if there is, farmers need to know about such a mechanism.”

Mr. Sankaranarayanan said schemes like the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bhima Yojana - which the Tamil Nadu government said was a “game-changer” - are backed by good intent but farmers do not know about such schemes because of lack of last mile connectivity.

Justice Misra observed, “So how will you get rid of middlemen? Suppose in Tamil Nadu, a crop is harvested, you [State] sell it for them and ensure they get the minimum support price. This can be done to stop any coercion from middlemen.”

An earlier affidavit in the case, the State had blamed heart attacks, illness, and “in certain cases”, suicides for deaths of its farmers reeling under severe drought.

The court had chided the State for its silence and lack of concern as farmers die. The court recorded in an order that the plight of the farmers “has the potentiality to disturb the conscience of any sensitive soul”.

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The Hindu, 7 July, 2017, http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/tamil-nadu/your-job-is-to-prevent-farmers-suicides-not-distribute-compensation-sc-to-tn-govt/article19230896.ece


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