Suicide by 800 farmers early ’07

New Delhi, Feb. 24: More than 800 farmers committed suicide in the first six months of last year, as per information obtained under the RTI Act.

The agrarian crisis forced 607 farmers to commit suicide in Maharashtra, 114 in Andhra Pradesh, 73 in Karnataka and 13 cases of suicide were reported from Kerala in the first half of last year alone, the information revealed.

Some states ruled by the Opposition NDA such as Punjab and Gujarat had failed to furnish details about the number of suicides by farmers to the Union agriculture ministry.

States like Orissa, Sikkim, Jammu and Kashmir, Delhi, Himachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Goa and Haryana and five Union territories did not report any case of farmer suicide during the period, according to government records.

The Union government, as part of its rehabilitation package for the affected farmers, has disbursed Rs 9,650 crores in 16 districts of Andhra Pradesh, Rs 2,389.64 crores in six districts of Karnataka, Rs 765.24 crores in three districts of Kerala and Rs 3,879.26 crores in six districts of Maharashtra in this connection.

(PTI)