Bengaluru: Already 85 plus deaths and still counting. The farmers are committing suicide everyday across Karnataka sending shockwaves. Most of the farmers who have committed suicide are sugarcane growers. These suicides are not related to crop loss, drought or lack of irrigation. All these suicides are related to price crash, exploitation of sugarcane growers by sugar mill owners and harassment by loan sharks.
Karnataka is the third largest grower of sugarcane after Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh. Sugarcane is grown all across Karnataka. Almost all sugar mills in the state are either directly owned by the powerful local politicians or controlled by them. They are not paying the government fixed rate to growers. According to some growers, the government fixed rate for one tonne sugarcane is Rs 2500 but some sugar mill owners are paying as little as just Rs 700 per tonne. Most of the sugar mills have defaulted on payment to farmers, forcing them to take loan from loan sharks at an exorbitant rate of interest. When the farmers can't repay the loan, left with no other options, they end their lives.
The first incident of suicide took place two months ago. After that on an average 2-3 farmers are ending their lives daily. Initially, the Congress government in the state chose to ignore the suicides calling them isolated incidents, not linked farm sector crisis. When the spate of suicides continued, opposition parties stalled the Assembly session, demanding a concrete action to put an end to farmers suicides.
Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, who was defensive seems to have woken up after his own party leaders attacked him for not visiting the families of farmers committing suicide. The 83-year-old stalwart of Karnataka politics and the senior most leader of Congress SM Krishna returned from his semi-retirement state attacking his own party government for not doing enough to end the suicides.
Krishna paid a visit to the families of the farmers who committed suicide in his native Mandya district. He even provided some financial aid from his own pocket to the families of dead farmers. Krishna's visit shocked Chief Minister Siddaramaiah following which he immediately convened a high-level meeting of his top ministers. He ordered them to visit the families of dead farmers in their respective districts. He also visited some families in Mandya and Mysore districts on Saturday and Sunday.
While in some cases, the state government has paid Rs 2 lakh and 1 lakh each as compensation to the family of dead farmers, others have merely got Rs 20,000. There is no uniformity in fixing the compensation. The landless farmers who cultivate others land are ineligible for compensation and have not been paid a single paisa so far.
According to an estimate, all sugar mills together owe more than Rs 3000 crore to farmers. Sugar mills owned by three top state BJP leaders together alone owe Rs 450 crore to growers. Sugar mills owned by some ministers and Congress leaders also owe hundreds of crores to growers.
The opposition JDS is in the forefront of farmers agitation demanding a permanent solution to farmers suicide. Its supremo HD Deve Gowda and son HD Kumaraswamy have been visiting the families of farmers committed suicide. The BJP is also making it a political issue.
The opposition parties and media are attacking the Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi for not visiting the families of the farmers who committed suicide in Karnataka. They claim that Rahul Gandhi has the time to visit farmers in opposition ruled UP and Punjab, not in Congress ruled Karnataka. According to some Congress leaders, Siddaramaiah himself is not interested in Rahul Gandhi's visit. He fears that his rivals within party might use it against him. However Siddaramaiah’s bête noir and the state Congress president Dr G Parameshwar told IBNLIVE that Rahul Gandhi would be visiting the state soon.
Some Congress leaders close to Siddaramaiah are alleging that farmers' suicide is a conspiracy to unseat him. However they fail to give any logical explanation to it. Why would poor farmers end lives to further power hungry politicians personal ambitions? There are no clear answers.
Farmers suicide are not new to Karnataka. Hundreds of farmers committed suicide during the rule of Ramakrishna Hegde, SR Bommai, JH Patel, SM Krishna and BS Yeddyurappa and others in the past. But most of these suicides were linked to drought and crop loss.
The recent suicides are related to harassment by loan sharks, unpaid sugarcane money and price crash. Shockingly the farmers in Malnad region (hilly region) of Karnataka are also committing suicide this time. It was unheard of in this region in the past.
The state government has released Rs 900 crore as an immediate relief for the sugarcane growers. It has asked the sugar mills to clear all dues immediately. But, media reports claim that no grower has got his or her dues till today. At the same time the government has also ordered the police to launch a crackdown on loan sharks mafia which is known as 'meter baddi mafia' in the state.
If Siddaramaiah fails to put an end to farmers suicides, it will be very difficult for him save his chair. He has many detractors within the party and they are waiting for a chance to unseat him.
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