Farmers who commit suicide are cowards, don't deserve govt support: Haryana minister

Unpredictable weather, ruined crops and rising debt have led to a crisis-like situation with over 3000 farmers committing  suicide in the last three years. More recently, during an Aam Aadmi Party rally in New Delhi a farmer from Rajasthan committed suicide by hanging himself from a tree, which has escalated the debate over the plight of farmers in India. [caption id=“attachment_2214678” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Representational image. Reuters.[/caption] Amidst this crisis, Haryana Agriculture Minister Om Prakash Dhankar today stirred another controversy by saying that said that farmers who commit suicide are cowards and hence not worthy of government aid. According to this IBN Live report, Dhankar made it clear that Haryana government will not help families of those agricultural labourers who have committed suicide because the administration is not for cowards. He further said that the AAP government in Delhi, including Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal was indulging in dirty politics over farmer Gajendra Singh’s suicide. Zee News reports that Dhankar said farmers who were committing suicide were running away from their responsibilities and leaving their families and children with liabilities. “Suicide is a crime as per Indian laws,” said Dhankar, adding that government could not support farmers who commit suicide as they were criminals under the law. Ironically, Dhankar, who had earlier headed the BJP’s Kisan Cell, had in the past  criticised the previous UPA government for not doing enough for farmers, saying this had resulted in an increasing in suicides. This is not the first time that P Dhankar has made controversial statement. In a speech ahead of the assembly polls last year, Dhankar had promised the youth that he will bring brides from Bihar for them if they are unable to find a match in a state infamous for its skewed sex ratio. Meanwhile, reacting to the large number of suicides in the country, Prime Minister Narendra Modi recently said in parliament that his government would seek solutions to the widespread problem of farmer suicide. ““Nothing is more important than a farmer’s life,” said Modi, adding, “We have to see which wrong road we walked and what were the wrong steps in the past and now. The government will accept all suggestions.” Desperately trying to fight the “anti-farmer” tag, the government, which went into a huddle soon after a farmer committed suicide at the April 22 rally of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, has decided to go ahead with the land bill only when the finance bills and other scheduled business of parliament are through. he Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2015, seeks to replace an ordinance re-promulgated in April which had amended certain provisions of the 2013 act passed during the UPA rule. The key points, which were removed from the earlier law, related to the consent clause and the social impact assessment study. The consent clause provided for 70-80 percent of those dependent on the land to agree to its acquisition. The social impact assessment clause entailed carrying out a study to examine the environmental impact and ensure rehabilitation of displaced people. The government agreed to nine amendments to the bill to get it passed in the Lok Sabha. These included removing social infrastructure as an exempted category and ensuring that the bare minimum of land required for a project is acquired. Compulsory employment for at least one member of the affected family of a farm labourer has also been added as well as a clause that the Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation Authority should hold hearings in the district where the acquisition takes place. When the ordinance was re-promulgated by President Pranab Mukherjee, the nine amendments made when it was passed in the Lok Sabha were included. The government has meanwhile told its ministers to fan across the country and convince farmers that the land acquisition ordinance is not anti-farmer. With inputs from IANS