Take a fair view of farm crisis: CM

By Our Special Correspondent

BANGALORE, MARCH 7. The Chief Minister, Mr. S.M. Krishna, told the members in the Legislative Assembly on Wednesday to take an objective view of the stark reality of the crisis in the country's agricultural sector when talking of the alleged suicides by farmers in the State.

Intervening during the discussion on the suicides by farmers on account of the fall in the prices of agricultural and commercial crops, he maintained that many more suicides by farmers had taken place in Punjab than those being reported in the State. The issue was raised in the House by the BJP and Janata Dal (United) members,

Mr. Krishna quoted from a study, ``Rural suicides: A quantum jump'', which said that 3,000 persons in the rural areas of Punjab had committed suicide. The leader of the JD(U) group, Mr. P.G.R. Sindhia, retorted that the figure cited by the Chief Minister might relate to all the suicides in rural Punjab. Not all of those who had ended their lives might be farmers. He also said that, similarly, in Karnataka, farmers and others were ending their lives in rural areas. But the police were describing all of them as ``unnatural deaths''.

Compensation: Mr. Krishna held his ground saying that he was not suggesting that they should derive ``sadistic satisfaction'' from such deaths. He further said that the report on Punjab had mentioned that a Southern State was paying a compensation of Rs. 1 lakh to the family of the farmer who committed suicide. But no such compensation was being paid in Punjab. The report also said that the payment of compensation would encourage suicides. Suicides by farmers were being reported in Punjab from Barnala, Lehna and another block in particular.

At one point, Mr. Krishna noted that the State Government had no control over imports and exports of farm produce. However, he was for a mechanism to monitor such exports and imports.

WTO Cell: Defending the creation of the WTO Cell in the State, he said that it was to guide the Government. The report submitted by the cell had opened the eyes of everyone. Recently, officials from other States, who were attending a meeting in Delhi, had made requests for copies of the report, he added.

During the discussion, Mr. B. Somashekar (JD-U) blamed the WTO regime for the crisis in the farm sector. Some of the countries were subsidising their exports and dumping farm produce on India. However, the Minister for Forests, Mr. K.H. Ranganath, said that statistics showed that there was no increase in imports into the country.

Mr. Jayaprakash Hegde (Independent) called for a scientific study of the impact of the WTO accord. The import duties had to be enhanced, he said.

Mr. S.S. Patil (JD-U) blamed middlemen for the situation. While the farmers were being denied remunerative prices, the consumers continued to get commodities at the old rates. He was critical of the Union Budget, and said that it contained nothing for the farmers. He demanded the waiver of interest on loans payable by farmers and the rescheduling of their loans.

Mr. H.C. Basavaraju (BJP) said that the agricultural produce marketing committees had failed the farmers in places such as Periyapatna.

Mr. Channigappa (JD-S) blamed the WTO accord for the crisis. Mr. P.H. Pujar and Mr. Bellubbi (BJP) also participated in the discussion.

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