Bengaluru/Hassan: Fortune is set to smile on the families of 981 farmers who committed suicide owing to agrarian reasons since April 1, 2015. They are likely to get a compensation of Rs 5 lakh each because the Congress government in the state would like to keep the farming community happy ahead of the taluk and zilla panchayat polls.
“We have modified the earlier guidelines, now more suicide cases will be eligible to Rs 5 lakh compensation. We have sought a review of old rejected cases from April last year, as per the new guidelines,” said Minister of Agriculture Krishna Byre Gowda.
Hitherto, only farmers who had taken agricultural loans from either nationalised banks or co-operative institutions were eligible for compensation.
Now even agricultural labourers who have taken loans from nationalized banks, co-operative societies and authorized private financial companies, will get compensation.
If rejected cases of farmer suicides become eligible for compensation, the government will have to incur an expenditure of around Rs 50 crore.
Compensation hiked
The Siddaramaiah government hiked the compensation for farmer suicides from Rs 1 lakh to Rs 2 lakh last year and to Rs 5 lakh this year after a visit by All-India Congress Committee Vice-President Rahul Gandhi to Mandya and Haveri districts to visit the families of bereaved families.
However, the suicides continued in the state calling for immediate action by the government. Leaders of Opposition parties also criticized the state government for its failure to give compensation to all farmers without imposing conditions.
This made the state government revisit the rigid rules and issue fresh guidelines for providing compensation.
Kin of 981 farmers may get compensation
An officer in the Agriculture Department told Deccan Chronicle that getting a report from the FSL laboratory in Hyderabad to confirm whether a farmer committed suicide, was consuming a lot of time. The committees cannot decide on eligibility of the families for compensation without the receipt of the FSL report. Once a directive is issued by the government, families of all 981 deceased farmers may get a compensation of Rs 5 lakh each. However, a senior BJP leader slammed the government for issuing fresh guidelines at a time when ZP/TP polls are round the corner
CM: We have fulfilled 100 of 165 promises
Declaring that his government had fulfilled 100 of the 165 poll promises made to voters before the Congress came to power in 2013, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said the remaining promises made in the party manifesto would be fulfilled before going to polls in 2018.
Addressing a gathering after launching projects in Hassan to the tune of Rs 1,000 crore, Mr Siddaramaiah said “I have three more budgets to present when all the poll promises will be fulfilled. For us, our manifesto is our Bible.”
Referring to allegations that he had favoured the minorities, backward classes and Dalits (Ahinda communities) while announcing government schemes, Mr Siddaramaiah said members of al communities were covered under the Anna Bhagya scheme, incentives for farmers and the interest-free loan scheme up to Rs 3 lakh for farmers.
He said he was not embarrassed about laying emphasis on measures to ensure social justice.
Listing out the irrigation facilities launched by his government, the Chief Minister said, “Earlier, we had estimated that Rs 50,000 crore would be needed to complete irrigation projects in the river basins. Now, the cost has been revised to Rs 1.2 lakh crore. My focus is on making the lives of farmers prosperous besides increasing food productivity.”
District in-charge and Minister for Animal Husbandry A. Manju said that the Congress victory in the recent Council polls was possible because of the pro-people programmes launched by Mr Siddaramaiah and wanted the Chief Minister to initiate measures to install a statue of late Chief Minister Veerendra Patil who was instrumental in construction of Gorur dam across river Hemavathy at Hassan.
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