Bhopal: In a blatant disregard of farmer suicides and their plight, Madhya Pradesh minister Balkrishna Patidar on Sunday said that suicides happen all the time and even industrialists and policemen kill themselves. Several farmer bodies have condemned Patidar's statement that comes at a time when the state is facing an acute crisis of farmer suicides.
This comes as another farmer killed himself on Friday in Damoh.
“Who doesn’t commit suicide, businessmen do, police commissioners do. It is a global problem. The blame for killing oneself solely lies on the concerned individual while we can only make assumptions," MoS agriculture, Patidar told news agency ANI on Sunday.
Laxman Kachi (45) a farmer in Sookha village of Damoh consumed poison on Friday. His family says he had taken a loan of Rs 50,000 on an exorbitant interest rate from a private moneylender and was shattered after his Kharif crop failed last season. To make things worse, he was unable to sow rabi crops because of the drought, the family said.
Police have started an investigation while involvement of the moneylender will only be clear after the investigation is completed.
When News18 sought a clarification, he reaffirmed his earlier statement and said, “I stand by my statement. There is a need to conduct research to find out the reasons behind people killing themselves."
Madhya Pradesh has seen a 21% rise in farmer suicides since 2013 while massive protests by farmers rocked the state in 2017. Farm distress is a sensitive issue in MP while the state government keeps coming up with one scheme after another to ensure better prices and easier loans for farmers, which has so far failed to stop these suicides.
The state, which was recently given its fifth Krishi Karman Award, reported a staggering 6,071 farmer suicides between 2011 and 2016.
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