Congress demands all party meeting on farmers' suicide
Hyderabad, Jan 28 (INN): The Telangana Congress Legislature Party on Saturday demanded that the State Government convene an all party meeting to discuss the issue of farmers' suicide.
Addressing a press conference in Assembly premises here, Deputy CLP leader Ponguleti Sudhakar Reddy said that Telangana was among seven States which were asked by the Supreme Court to suggest measures to deal with situations that often force farmers to commit suicide. He said that the State Government must take Supreme Court's observation very serious and come up with positive suggestions to end the spree of suicide by farmers. He said as per the directions of the Supreme Court, the State Government should frame policies to protect farmers from crop failures due to natural calamities and debts.
Ponguleti pointed out that as per the recent report of National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), Telangana stands second in the country in farmers' suicide. While 898 farmers' suicides were reported in 2014, in the year 2015 the number increased to 1400, which includes 42 agricultural workers. He said of 1,358 farmers, as many as 632 or 46.5% committed suicide due to 'Bankruptcy or Indebtedness'. He strongly condemned the TRS Government for its silence on NCRB reports on farmers' suicides. He said that the State Government should invite all political parties to discuss and come up with a permanent solution for this problem.
The Congress leader also welcome the all-party meeting held by Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao to discuss welfare of SCs and STs in the State. He said it was a good sign that the Chief Minister has admitted his own failures in implementing schemes for the welfare of SCs and STs. However, he said corrective measures should be taken immediately to plug the identified loopholes in SC/ST schemes.
Meanwhile, Leader of Opposition in Legislative Council Mohammed Ali Shabbir demanded that the State Government immediately release the input subsidy to farmers which was sent by the Central Government.
News Posted: 28 January, 2017
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