NEW DELHI: Over one lakh farmers committed suicide in the six years between 1998 and 2003, Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar said, quoting Union Home Ministry figures in the Rajya Sabha on Thursday.

Comprising 10 per cent of the population, suicides by the farmer community accounted for 15 to 16 per cent of the over one lakh suicides recorded by the country's police stations, Mr. Pawar said while replying to a short duration discussion on the import of wheat and the agrarian crises.

The common issues listed for agrarian distress by several expert committees and experts were the collapse of the cooperative credit network, the consequent dependence on private money lenders charging an unsustainable rate of interest, diversion of crop loans to meet illness and wedding expenses, mono-cropping pattern leading to stagnant yields, depletion of ground water and over-dependence on monsoons.

Responding to the statistics on farmers' suicides compiled separately by the Government since 1995, farmers' leader Sharad Joshi (Swatantra Bharat Paksh) said the figures had surprised him since the estimation by agriculture experts was less than half of that given by Mr. Pawar.

He complimented the Agriculture Minister on candour in revealing the figures.

Mr. Pawar mentioned several steps being taken by the Centre to ameliorate the crises, including a massive expansion of rural credit and lifting of certain restrictions on the selling of crops.

To save Rs. 400 crore

Mr. Pawar strongly defended the import of wheat for southern States and said the Centre would save about Rs. 400 crore by not transporting wheat from north Indian States.

He told Kalraj Mishra (Bharatiya Janata Party) that pesticide and moisture levels in the imported wheat tender were specified to be either below permissible levels or those recommended by experts. The Government was also checking samples of the imported wheat.

The Government was unable to buy wheat from domestic farmers as they got higher prices from private traders because of amendments to the Agriculture Produce Marketing Committee Act.

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