Suicide spree by AP farmers

The Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh, was deeply touched as family members of farmers who committed suicide narrated their woes to him.

Nearly 3000 farmers have taken their lives in AP because of crippling debt.





FARMING IN ANDHRA PRADESH

There are 11 million farmers in the Andhra Pradesh

90% of them are small farmers

The state has been suffering from drought since 2001

70% of the state's 78 million people are dependent on agriculture

The prime minister's visit is his first since taking office in May 2004.

It comes a week before his newly elected Congress government presents its first federal budget, which is expected to be pro-farmer.

Mr Singh's visit is aimed at showing his government's commitment to poor farmers, who had felt largely excluded from the economic reforms of the previous government.

Distress and havoc

The prime minister announced a federal compensation of 50,000 rupees ($1,136) to each family where a farmer had committed suicide.

This is in addition to the 150,000 rupees ($3,400) compensation announced by the state government to every affected family.

After landing at Somayajulapalli in Kurnool district, the Prime Minister attended the presentation session by the State Government on the plight of farmers in the State. Then he went to the hall where the family members of 51 farmers who committed suicide since 1998 in the district, assembled. Dr. Singh walked up to women and children occupying the front row and greeted them with folded hands.

Dr. Singh met members of bereaved families and other farmers in distress where 51 farmers had committed suicide since 1998 — and later at Dharmapur in the neighbouring drought-prone district of Mahbubnagar, which saw 13 suicides in the last six weeks. The Chief Minister, Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy, who accompanied the Prime Minister acted as interpreter and explained the steps taken by the Government to help the families. The language barrier seemed to have crumbled as Dr. Singh felt the deep-rooted agony of the kin of deceased farmers. The Prime Minister repeatedly asked them what they immediately needed to overcome their problems. "Nothing can compensate the loss suffered by you in life but the Governments at the Centre as well as in the State will stand by you at this hour and do whatever is possible," he assured the victims. Sivamma of Pamulapadu, whose husband, Anjaneyulu, committed suicide on November 1, 1998, explained that their five-acre land was acquired for digging the Telugu Ganga canal. With the amount paid as compensation, the family moved to other village and started agriculture operations by leasing land. However, hailstorm inflicted severe loss on the family and the debts mounted to Rs. one lakh. Shocked by erosion of capital and pressure from moneylenders, Anjaneyulu ended life by consuming pesticide.

The Prime Minister was moved by the tragedy that struck Nagamani, a degree student and her brother, Madhusudan Reddy, who is disabled by impaired speech. They lost both parents while the father, Nagireddy, committed suicide unable to face financial problems in 1998.

They were promised help for education of the girl and medical treatment of the boy.

The Prime Minister and the Chief Minister asked widows to admit their children to Government residential schools and promised all help.

Dr. Singh said the Prime Minister's Office would directly monitor the rehabilitation of the families.

In his meetings with villagers, Mr Singh said he would ensure that banks provide assistance to the families, and one member of every family gets a job.

Mr Singh met residents of Somayjulapalle village, where at least 53 farmers have taken their lives in the past six years after failing to pay off loans. "I also come from a farmer's family and I have some idea of the suffering and difficulties of the farmers," Mr Singh told the villagers.

"But after what I have seen and heard here today, I have come to know the extent of the sufferings and losses of the farmers for the first time."

Mr Singh announced a special assistance package for the village to build irrigation tanks, provide piped water, build high schools and improve roads.

Suffering for long

Farmers have been taking their lives in Andhra Pradesh and neighbouring Karnataka state after failing to repay high-interest loans from private money lenders.

Analysts say the spate of suicides points to the complete collapse of cheap and affordable government credit to farmers.

"A rich man can buy a Mercedes Benz at 4% interest rate, but the farmer is charged 13% to15% for buying a tractor. This is very strange," Andhra Pradesh chief minister YS Rajashekhar Reddy told a meeting recently.

The suicides have continued even since Mr Reddy's newly elected Congress party state government promised a relief package for families of farmers who had committed suicide.

Farm associations say the farmers have been suffering ever since economic reforms began in India in 1991.

They say they are paying more for electricity, fertiliser and loans. But the prices of their produce have been rising slowly, leading to losses.

"The crisis did not come overnight. It is the result of policies of the past many years, which were not favourable to the farmers," P Changala Reddy, chief of a farmers grouping told Associated Press.

Deadly cocktail

Lakshmamma and Anjamma are two of the many faces of a tragedy that has been sweeping through the drought-ridden southern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh.

They are relatives of two of more than 100 farmers who have taken their lives in the state over the last fortnight, shocking the nation.

Changal Reddy, president of Federation of Andhra Pradesh Farmers Associations, says the number of suicides always rise from April to June. He says there is a "deadly cocktail" of factors at play during these months that drives farmers to despair.

For one, he says, the farmers come to know around this time whether their crop has failed. The state has been reeling under drought and crop failure has become common.

Then, the "money lenders swing into action to demand their money back," says Mr Reddy.

"If the farmer is getting his daughter married off during this time, then there are the pressures of dowry. The problems just keep piling up."

A total of 250 farmers committed suicide in Andhra Pradesh between 1995 and 1998, according to the government.

There are no definitive records available after 1998 after the previous government stopped paying compensation to affected families on the ground that it was encouraging more farmers to commit suicide.

The new chief minister Mr YS Rajashekhar Reddy says nearly 3,000 farmers in the state have committed suicide over the past six years.

Analysts say that the new government should now spread the message that its relief package was "on its way".

The farmers association chief Changal Reddy has a radically different solution.

He says the government should declare a "financial emergency" and divert all resources to the farming sector.

"That is the only way to save our farmers," he says.