Dehradun, Sep 17 (IANS) Deeply concerned over the spate of suicides by poverty-ridden farmers in the country, the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) is devising "permanent measures" to prevent such tragedies.
"A study has been carried out by experts at the Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research and some NGOs, on the basis of which we are working out a permanent solution to this perennial tragedy," said NCP chief and Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar at the party's third national convention here Sunday.
The convention was attended by nearly 10,000 delegates from different states, including Maharashtra, Gujarat, Kerala, Meghalaya, Assam, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Delhi. The party's 15 MPs and 108 MLAs attended the convention.
Pawar also announced the setting up of a task force to devise concrete plans for involving people of Indian origin (PIOs) and non-resident Indians (NRIs) in various development programmes in the country.
"This task force will mobilise political parties as well as civil society groups for the purpose of engaging PIOs and NRIs in India's triumphant economic march," he said.
Terming "uncertainty of monsoons, crop failure and above all economic indebtedness, besides social and psychological factors" as the key factors driving poor farmers to committing suicides, he hoped the new measures would stop them from taking the extreme step.
Pawar expressed hope that the reduction in bank interest rates on farmers' loans, largely at NCP's initiative, would also go a long way in preventing suicides.
"Though our government's credit policies for farmers do help them a lot, still a large number of farmers get trapped by private moneylenders and end up paying exorbitant interest rates," he pointed out.
"In many cases, the loan taken for agriculture purposes gets diverted towards fulfilling causes such as marriages, child education and health, compelling the farmer to commit suicide on account of his perpetual indebtedness."
Pawar added: "We have developed a comprehensive rehabilitation package that covers 31 districts in Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Karnataka and Kerala." The four have reported maximum farmer suicides.
The minister also suggested "creating opportunities for enhancing the income of farmers through dairy development, fisheries and poultry farming as allied ventures".
Embarking upon the revival of cooperative institutions in the country, Pawar said: "In accordance with the recommendations of the Vaidyanathan committee, we are bringing in an investment of Rs.140 billion in the cooperative sector."
"While the central government would allocate Rs.120 billion, the remaining investment of Rs.20 billion would be made by respective state governments."