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Politics over farmer’s suicide

Kashmir Times. Dated: 4/24/2015 3:33:30 PM

Politics and humanity has plunged to an all time low; it must be uplifted by ameliorating the plight of farmers

It is not just politics that has reached an abysmal low in this country; it is humanity that has plunged so badly in the higher echelons of circles of power and politics. At the centre of the issue is the shocking, dramatic and extremely tragic suicide by a farmer in full public glare at the venue of the Aam Aadmi Party addressed by Arvind Kejriwal in Delhi. The worst kind of politicking that followed is a shocking indication of how tragedies are trivialised with a shocking blame game and invoking the ususal 'conspiracy' theories. The tragedy of the man and the larger story of the farmer suicides in the country, the fabric of which this fresh episode was a part was pushed to the margins while politicians of all hues had a field day with insensitive remarks and the electronic media focusing on capturing the footage of the live suicide and then on whether the Aam Aadmi Party activists or the police present there did or did not do enough to save the farmer and shift him to the hospital the grief of the family. A Peepli Live remake ensued. Only this time it was real. It couldn't have been more ironic that the farmer who climbed up the tree to end his life in full public glare committed suicide at the venue of a rally organised to oppose the land acquisition bill. Even more shockingly, the rally continued, taking the Aam out of the Aam Aadmi Party, even as this episode was going on. The question to be asked is not only about whether this man could have been saved from climbing a tree and ending his life but about why farmers like him are driven to a point where suicide seems the only option. The farmer's 'suicide' note, which says nothing explicitly about ending his life, states that he is pushed to extreme misery owing to crop failure and does not know how he can return to his home and ends with an ironic slogan of 'Jai jawan, jai kissan'. It is difficult to say with precision what pushed this man to take this extreme step. However, it would be a folly to consider this incident as an aberration; even his note is an indication of the brink the man has been pushed and becomes a part of the larger picture of increasing figure of suicides by farmers across the country.
It would not serve the purpose to engage in another wordy duel on who is responsible for the decline of the agriculture sector and pushing farmers to the brink. It would be wrong to see the evil entirely in the land acquisition bill which is yet to be passed but it may indeed impact the farmers in unimaginable ways. The farmer suicides have been an ongoing story for the last 15 years or so and they stem from acute neglect of the agriculture sector, the ill-conceived policies with ill-planned sops that either do not reach the farmers or are do not assure a proper mechanism of crop insurance, market support prices and supply of seeds and fertilisers. In the face of crop failures due to various reasons including natural disasters, the compensations are too meager and the loan waiver schemes too delayed or absent. Policies in recent years have made the cost of production higher than the profitability of the agriculture sector, pushing farmers to debts from which they are unable to extricate themselves. For long, the agriculture sector has suffered and with India having embarked its journey with economic reforms that factor in the global trends but not the traditional mainstay of the economy, the interests of the farmers are going to be jeopardized further and will also result in an excessive food crisis. The issue of suicides, even though alarming, has been ignored or looked upon condescendingly. The tale of the fresh suicide without being politicized and dehumanized any further must remind the nation and its leaders that there is no room for complacency. The present government which has been far worse than its predecessors in ignoring the claim of the farmers must respond with a sense of responsibility, due diligence and pragmatism.