Farmer’s suicide: Cong gives Rs 1 lakh to kin

“Government should take immediate steps to protect the interest and lives of small farmers who are in great trouble due to delay in monsoon,” Patel said.

Bhupendra Rathod,son of Somabhai,said his father was under debt of more than Rs 50,000.

“He got the money from someone but was worried for not being able to return the money due to crop failure,” he added.

“Delay in rains affected our crop on two bighas of land,” he said.

Somabhai had committed suicide by consuming pesticide.

Yet another suicide bid

A 50-year-old farmer attempted suicide by consuming poison at Malkana village in Mendarda taluka of Junagadh district on Friday after his crop failed twice this season due to lack of rain.

Junagadh police said Gabhru Shak has been admitted to Rajkot Civil Hospital.

“He was found unconscious at his farmhouse. His family rushed him to a local hospital where he was treated briefly before being shifted to the Rajkot hospital,” said a police officer.

Shak had reportedly taken a loan for buying groundnut and cotton seeds. “We will soon get details of the loan,” added the officer.

He had reportedly first sown groundnut and cotton in the first week of June after pre-monsoon showers. A month ago,he again sowed seeds with a hope that there would be some rains this time,which did not happen.

As many as 16 farmers have committed suicide in the Saurashtra-Kutch region in the last two months.

Rain brings hope

Rainfall up to five inches in various parts of Saurashtra-Kutch in the last two days has brought some respite from scorching heat and raised the hope to save or revive some crops in the scarcity-hit region.

On Friday evening,Rajkot city received moderate rain.

‘132 talukas in Gujarat declared drought-hit’

As many as 132 talukas in Gujarat have been declared drought-hit,according to Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar.

In a written reply to the Rajya Sabha,Pawar said Gujarat,Karnataka,Maharashtra and Rajasthan have declared drought in over 390 talukas so far and central teams will visit these states to assess the situation. “The central teams have been constituted to visit these states for assessing the situation,” he said. The ministry is closely monitoring monsoon situation along with India Meteorological Department and state governments,he said.