FAILED CROP TAKES ATOLL
Debt-ridden farmer ends his life due to the agrarian crisis
He was just 27 years old, but farmer Shekhar of Sagare, H.D. Kote taluk in Mysore district, was so distressed by the drying up of his sugarcane crop, that he committed suicide on April 21.
His mother and two brothers are still in a state of shock at the untimely demise. “He called to tell me how upset he was and I counselled him. But he didn’t listen,” farmer leader Kurubur Shantakumar told INDIA TODAY.
Shekhar took the step after the local sugar factory refused to lift his stock of sugarcane; the crop for which he had had taken a loan of Rs 4 lakh dried, leaving them with no means of livelihood.
The sugarcane crop in the arid stretches of Mysore and Chamarajanagar districts has failed. Groundwater has depleted to dangerous levels. Thousands of farmers are in distress, with banks seeking foreclosure of earlier loans. Estimates of farmers’ loans vary from Rs 3,000-15,000 crore. The state government is considering waiving the loans.