CHANDIGARH, Dec 2: Untimely rains and negligence on part of the government agencies coupled together have caused the biggest agrarian crisis in post-independence Punjab.This was stated by Prof K. Gopal Iyer of the Department of Sociology, Punjab University, at a seminar on "Agrarian Crisis and Farmers' suicides in Punjab", held at the department auditorium today. Iyer revealed that approximately 21 lakh metric tonnes of paddy was sold below the minimum support price of Rs 470 per quintal this year. The yield loss, he stated, ranged between 18 and 40 per cent. Over 41 per cent of the paddy this year was bought by private rice millers as compared to 26 per cent last year, he said.Iyer stated that Sangrur and Bathinda districts recorded the highest suicide rate among farmers in Punjab, with indebtedness remaining the main cause. Iyer stated that though suicides by farmers in Punjab had shown an upward trend since 1992, the problem invited attention only after similar cases were reported from AP and Karnataka recently.Quoting from a study on 48 suicides in Sangrur district - particularly the Leharagaga, Munak and Barnala blocks - he revealed that over 60 per cent farmers who committed suicide were either small or landless farmers. Most farmers, statistics reveal, were below 30 years.
