With another farmer committing suicide in Punjab on Thursday, there seems to be no end to farmer crisis in the state. Even as a panel has been constituted to understand why farmers are committing suicide, ground realities continue to haunt agriculture in Punjab.
On April 28, 2015, Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi met farmer Surjit Singh at Sirhind Mandi in Punjab. He was among hundreds of farmers who wanted Rahul to raise their demand in Parliament for compensation and lifting of grain stocks.
Less than two months later, on June 10, Rahul Gandhi went to Surjit Singh's home, but to meet the farmer's family, as he had committed suicide, leaving behind four children and Rs 10 lakh in debt.
The farmer's daughter, Jasvir Kaur, said, "I only want to say that the way my father went, no one's father should go like this."
The ruling Shiromani Akali Dal in Punjab was quick to lash out at the Congress for politicising the farmer's death. The Congress hit back, saying the Akali government wasn't doing enough.
Fatehgarh Sahib MLA KS Nagra has said, "The Akali government needs to be more sensitive towards farmer issues."
The state government has constituted a panel to probe reasons behind the suicides, but farmer organisations in the state say attempts are being made to downplay the problem.
According to Darbara Singh of the Bharatiya Kisan Union, "When our expenses go up and we take loans and can't pay it back, when we farmers are tired of it all, we commit suicide. The police and politicians tell their families cases will be registered against them, so no complaint is made."
Agriculture in Punjab is caught in a blame game. Farmers blame middlemen for skimming profits and lending at exorbitant rates; middlemen blame farmers for living beyond their means; farmers blame the government for not diversifying agriculture, and political parties take potshots at each other, all this as agriculture in Punjab continues its downward spiral.
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