Farmer's Suicide: Centre, Oppn Slug It Out In House

BANGALORE: Suicide by a farmer at an AAP rally here yesterday reverberated in both Houses of Parliament today. It later turned into a debate on the larger issue of agrarian crisis fuelled by the recent unseasonal rains, resulting in declining grain productivity.

The Opposition and MPs from the ruling coalition asked for a farm-loan waiver and a bonus on the wheat crop.  Prime Minister Narendra Modi termed farmers’ problems as 'long standing and widespread' and assured all help to them. Speaking in the Lok Sabha, Modi said: “The farmers cannot be left unattended”. The government, he said, was ready to accept all good suggestions. “The issue of farmers committing suicide is a major concern,” Modi said. 

“We should all vow to work together and find a solution to this age-old problem. The issue has been there for long. We also have to see which wrong road we have walked”, Modi said. The Prime Minister spoke at the fag end of nearly two-hour discussions allowed by Speaker Sumitra Mahajan.

Both the Houses witnessed sharp exchanges between the ruling BJP-led NDA government and the combined opposition – the Congress, the Left, AAP and the TMC. Gajendra Singh, a farmer from Dausa, Rajasthan, had committed suicide at an AAP rally yesterday.

Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh earlier said: “The government is standing firmly with farmers and will provide them all assistance”. He reeled out figures to show how share of agriculture was declining, saying "58 per cent of the population is involved in agriculture activity and its contribution was only 14 per cent of the overall gross domestic product”. 

Initiating the discussion, Deepender Hooda, a Congress MP from Rohtak, demanded a farm-loan waiver, a compensation of Rs 25,000 per acre and a bonus of Rs 300 per quintal for the wheat procured by the Central agencies. "The loss due to rain is the biggest in 100 years", Hooda said.

SAD’s Prem Singh Chandumajra seconded the opinion in the Lok Sabha while in the Rajya Sabha Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa also suggested loan-waiver besides fixation of better minimum support price and bonus from the Centre. Leader of the Congress in the Lower House Mallikarjun Kharge demanded a judicial probe into the farmer’s death. He said since Delhi Police itself was one of parties to be blamed, the probe by it would be vitiated. 

In the Rajya Sabha, BSP chief Mayawati demanded a CBI probe. "Both the Central government and the AAP government in Delhi are responsible for the suicide", said Leader of Opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad raising the issue during Zero Hour in the Rajya Sabha.

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