Ensure no farmer is pushed to commit suicide: SC to Centre

The court regretted that situations on the ground remained adverse for the farmers and they have to face hardship in all situations.

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The Supreme Court of India.

Questioning efficacy of the Centre’s schemes to deal with farmer suicides, the Supreme Court Friday said that instead of providing compensation in such cases, the government should ensure that no farmer is pushed to take the extreme step. A bench led by Chief Justice of India J S Khehar asked the government to frame schemes that are preventive and do not kick in after farmers have been forced to end their lives. “Tentatively, we think you (government) are moving in the wrong direction. A farmer takes a loan; he fails to repay; he commits suicide and you pay his family a compensation. But we think the solution is not in granting the compensation but in stopping the suicides,” said the bench that also comprises Justices D Y Chandrachud and Sanjay K Kaul.

The bench added that the schemes should be framed keeping in view reasons why farmers commit suicides and how to prevent them. “You should have schemes in place to to deal with the circumstances that might be leading to them. The solution is not to pay for suicides but to stop them completely,” the bench told Additional Solicitor General P S Narasimha, who appeared for the Centre.

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Narasimha sought to convince the court that the government had come up with various new schemes to deal with the suicides and that there have been sincere efforts to ensure nobody is pushed to ending his life for failing to repay a loan. “But I must also inform the court that not all suicides by farmers relate to financial distress. There are different reasons for such unfortunate incidents. The government, however, is completely aware of its duties and has framed many schemes to prevent hardships,” said Narasimha. He listed out various new schemes, including the new crop insurance policy, for farmers.

But lawyer Colin Gonsalves, who was appearing for petitioner NGO Citizens for Resource and Action Initiative, submitted that most of these steps were mere “tokenism” and that despite recommendations by the committees and other proposals, farmers have remained neglected.

The court regretted that situations on the ground remained adverse for the farmers and they have to face hardship in all situations. “If there is a surplus, they don’t get good money for their crop and if there is a drought, they get nothing. This is an important issue that has not been dealt with in years and we want you to now do something for them. Give them some succour,” the bench told Narasimha. The court observed that it was not going to jump to conclusions or find fault with any scheme straightaway. “We will examine everything very carefully, thinking of farmers’ interest. We will understand the problems and will then go step by step,” said the bench. Narasimha agreed to obtain further instructions in the matter to address the court’s concerns, following which the case was posted for hearing next on March 27.

As reported by The Indian Express in January, around 72 per cent of farmers, who commit suicide, have less than two hectares of land, as per data compiled by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB). According to the NCRB report for 2015, less than two per cent farmers, who committed suicide, were large farmers with more than 10 hectares of land.

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