Madhya Pradesh: Financially distressed farmer forced to use daughters to plough field, govt promises assistance

In an unfortunate turn of events, highlighting the growing distress in India’s agriculture sector, a Madhya Pradesh farmer has been forced to use his two young daughters to plough his field due to financial constraints, ANI reported on Sunday.

The incident, which took place in Madhya Pradesh’s Basantpur Pangri in Sehore district, has now come under the scanner of the state government. Speaking to ANI, Ashish Sharma, the deputy public relations officer of the state government, urged the farmer to not use children for farming. Sharma added that the government would be looking at ways to help him tide over his financial crisis.

Madhya Pradesh has been in the news lately over the growing farmer crisis. As of now, 38 farmers have committed suicide in the last five weeks. In June, the farmers took to the streets to demand a loan waiver and better minimum support prices for their produce, among other things. However, on 6 June, the protest turned violent in Mandsaur, with police resorting to firing, which led to the deaths of six farmers. Chouhan announced a compensation of Rs 1 crore to the kin of the deceased and Rs 1 lakh to those seriously injured during the protest. [caption id=“attachment_3792621” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image. Reuters[/caption] The Centre rushed 1,100 anti-riots police personnel to Mandsaur after the state home ministry wrote to the Union home ministry, asking for additional security forces. According to sources, the protesters outnumbered the CRPF men during the protests. Chouhan appealed to the farmers to maintain calm and said that a solution will be found through dialogue.The state government also  appointed Justice JK Jain (retired) to head the one-member judicial commission to probe the police firing. Chouhan also went on an “indefinite” hunger strike to protest against the Mandsaur violence. However, he ended the fast on the same day, leading to Congress slamming the fast as “sham”. “Shivraj Singh Chouhan’s fast is a drama…it is a sham, he should answer why a case of murder has not been filed in the death of five farmers in Madhya Pradesh,” party spokesperson Randeep Surjewala told reporters in New Delhi. Blaming BJP for making “false promises” over providing better prices to farmers for their produce, Congress said it has been unable to give minimum selling price to the farmers.   With inputs from PTI