Compensating farmers is not enough, SC tells government

Compensating families of farmers who commit suicide is not enough, the Supreme Court said on Thursday, as it directed the government to expedite schemes meant for tackling a growing farm crisis that has hit millions of peasants.

The court’s order came while hearing a petition by an NGO, Cranti, which has highlighted rising incidents of farmer suicides, most of which are attributed to mounting debts or surplus production that has led to a crash in prices. “Giving compensation to the family of a farmer who kills himself is not enough. You are moving but still the suicides are increasing. There are policies but everything is on paper. You must move to implementation,” Chief Justice JS Kehar and Justice YV Chandrachud told attorney general KK Venugopal.

“There is a motive for us to hear this (petition). We want you to soften the effect of loan on a farmer,” the bench said.

Venugopal assured the court the schemes would reach at least half of India’s farmers by the end of next year. “To reach out is a massive exercise and we need atleast a year to see the effective results of the schemes.”

The law officer informed the court that out of 12 crore farmers, 5.34 crore have benefited from the schemes. This covers 30% of the cropped area, he said.

“It is justified to seek time to implement the schemes,” the court noted in its order. It also asked the government to consider suggestions by the petitioner’s lawyer, Colin Gonsalves.

Gonsalves gave the example of the MP deaths and said the suicides were unprecedented.

“The state did not wake up to fix the minimum support price of onions until the deaths took place,” he said.

THE LAW OFFICER INFORMED THE COURT THAT OUT OF 12 CRORE FARMERS, 5.34 CRORE HAVE BENEFITED FROM THE SCHEMES