SME Times: New Delhi: Tuesday,
March 28, 2017.
The Supreme
Court on Monday asked the central government to prepare a "line of
action" that the states should take for dealing with the "very
serious issue" of suicides by farmers.
Asking the
government to come out with a policy that would deal with farmers committing
suicide, the bench of Chief Justice Jagdish Singh Khehar, Justice D.Y.
Chandrachud and Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul said that in coordination with the
states, the Centre should prepare a line of action to deal with the issue.
"Agriculture
is a state subject and the Centre will coordinate with states and come up with
a line of action to address the root cause of farmers committing suicide,"
the bench said.
Addressing
the concern expressed by the bench, Additional Solicitor General P.S. Narasimha
told the court that the government was formulating a comprehensive policy to
deal with the issue of farmers' suicides.
Narasimha
told the bench that government agencies were directly procuring foodgrains from
the famers, and they were being given insurance cover, crop loss compensation
and agriculture loans.
The court
said this in the course of hearing of a plea by an NGO, Citizens Resource and
Action and Initiative (CRANTI), seeking compensation to the families of the
debt-ridden farmers.
Appearing for
the NGO CRANTI, senior counsel Colin Gonsalves said that over 3,000 farmers had
committed suicide and the government should do something to address the real
issue.
The top court
had on January 27, 2017, expanded the scope of the petition by the NGO, which
had in 2014 approached the top court seeking compensation to the families of
the debt-ridden farmers committing suicide in Gujarat.
While
expanding the scope of the petition by the NGO, the top court had on January 27
sought response from the Centre, state governments, union territories and the
Reserve Bank of India on the reasons for farmers' suicides, as it described it
as a "sensitive matter"
Besides
seeking interim financial assistance and compensation of Rs five lakh each to
the families of 619 famers who had committed suicide since 2003, the petitioner
NGO has sought direction to the Gujarat government to pay compulsory financial
aid to the farmers who have suffered crop failure.
The NGO had
challenged the July 10, 2013, order of the Gujarat High Court dismissing its
plea, saying that courts could not interfere in policy matters.
The Gujarat
government in an RTI reply had said that since 2003 when suicides by the
farmers started in Gujarat till August
20, 2012, 619 farmers have committed suicide in the state.
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