The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh News : We will not let down any farmer: Raghuveera

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Oct 14, 2004

Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

We will not let down any farmer: Raghuveera

By Our Staff Reporter

HYDERABAD, OCT. 13. The Minister for Agriculture , N. Raghuveera Reddy, on Wednesday said the Government had disbursed Rs. 5.02 crores to families of 447 farmers who had committed suicide since the Congress came to power five months ago.

He said as many as 912 suicide cases were reported. But, only 447 could be established as farmer-related by committees comprising revenue divisional officers, Deputy Superintendents of Police and Assistant Directors of Agriculture.

Mr. Raghuveera Reddy was speaking at a symposium on `Role of the State and social organisations in prevention of suicide,' conducted by the Hyderabad Psychological Association (HPA).

He said the Government had also taken into cognisance suicides since July 1998, and disbursed Rs. 14.62 crores to the families of 975 farmers, out of 1,197 suicides reported since then. "Regardless of criticism, we are fully committed to helping each and every farmer," he said, appealing them not to despair.

One-stop shop

The Minister said the Government was in the process of constituting an Agriculture Technology Mission, to make available every service and input required by farmers at one place. The State-level Farmers' Welfare Committee would submit its report in two months, he said.

Other speakers, including the former Principal, Osmania Medical College, P. Raghurami Reddy, and president and general secretary, HPA, C. Raja Mouli and G. Kavitha respectively, said the popular notion that suicides were a culmination of an idea that has germinated in the mind of a farmer weeks or even months before, was not right.

`Wrong assumption'

Another argument that compensation packages serve to influence the decision to kill oneself was also not true. The act of committing suicide is impulsive, borne out of frustration and despair. All that the farmers wanted was freedom from unscrupulous traders supplying spurious seed and fertilizers and good yield.

Dr. Reddy recalled the experiences of psychologists on field visits to Gangapur in Mahabubnagar and Nizamabad districts. He said it was despair that drove farmers to suicide and not the prospect of getting compensation for the family.

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