Appeal to farmers in distress not to commit suicide, says Rajnath Singh

Ram Dulare, a farmer, is in tears after his standing wheat crop was flattened in unseasonal rain. Ram Dulare owns 1.5 bighas of land on the outskirts of Lucknow and claims all his crop has been lost. (Source: Express Photo by Vishal Srivastav )

Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Friday took to Twitter to appeal to farmers in distress across the country not to commit suicide. He also asked the respective state governments to address the issue.

“We are with you,” he added in the tweet.

Over the past few weeks, over a dozen debt-laden farmers have committed suicide in several parts of India.

Unseasonal rains have badly damaged the winter crop in large parts of the fertile northern plains, most likely contributing to the suicides, and villagers have blamed the ruling government for not stepping in to help the distressed farmers or ensuring that crop prices remained stable.

The government’s introduction of the controversial land acquisition ordinance has been challenged by a group of farmers’ associations who moved the Supreme Court on Thursday.

Alleging that the ordinance was a fraud on the Constitution, the groups urged the court to quash the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement (Amendment) Ordinance, 2015, promulgated on April 3.

Street protests by Congress and other opposition parties with regard to the bill have also created headache for the ruling dispensation.

Among those opposition leaders is Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal who tweeted on Saturday that he will visit few rain-hit villages to estimate the damage incurred to the crops and is expected to announce relief for the farmers.
“Farmers have suffered huge losses due to recent rains. Will visit a few villages n meet them to see how govt can help them,” he said in a tweet on Saturday morning.

Kejriwal is scheduled to address a public meeting at Mundka in West Delhi later on Saturday. A delegation of farmers had met Kejriwal on Friday and urged him for a survey of crop losses due to untimely rains and compensation according to its findings.

(With inputs from PTI and Reuters)

Source:: Indian Express