One farmer is dying every hour because of the wrong policies of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the Congress alleged on September 20.
Addressing a press conference, party spokesperson Supriya Shrinate cited the case of Dashrath Lakshman Kedari, a farmer in Pune, who took away his life after failing to repay his loan.
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“Kedari also said he was ending his life due to helplessness. He sought reasonable MSP [Minimum Support Price] for farm produce as a farmers’ right and blamed the policies of the incumbent government for his decision to end life,” Ms. Shrinate told reporters.
The Congress leader said as many as 10,881 people involved in agriculture ended their lives in 2021 and that totalled 6.6% of 1,64,033 suicides last year.
“This means, every day 30 farmers are dying by suicide and every hour more than one farmer is dying,” she said.
More than 53,881 farmers killed themselves between 2014 and 2021 and that translates to 21 deaths daily, Ms. Shrinate claimed.
“Who is responsible for the dire straits of Indian farmers? The policies of this government,” she said.
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The Congress spokesperson said that the government, which had promised to double farmers’ income in 2022, is now arguing before the Supreme Court that offering MSP over and above 50% of the cost to farmers distorts markets.
Ms. Shrinate also argued that the government had also increased diesel prices, imposed a range of GST on farm products — 5% on fertiliser; 18% on insecticides, 12% on farm equipment and 18% on tractors and these have “pushed the production cost to ₹25,000 per hectare.”
(There is always someone to listen at: +914066202000 or 6666 1117 in case of any emotional breakdowns at this Hyderabad-based suicide intervention centre Roshni.)
