Steep decline in farmers’ suicide in Telangana: Tomar

HYDERABAD: The Centre on Tuesday informed Parliament that farmers' suicides in Telangana witnessed a steep decline since 2015. Union agriculture minister Narendra Singh Tomar gave a written reply in Lok Sabha to this effect to the question raised by Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee president and MP A. Revanth Reddy. Revanth Reddy sought to know the details of the number of farmers who had committed suicide in Telangana since 2014, the major reasons behind such suicides, the details of the steps taken and schemes launched by the Centre to stop such suicides, the number of farmers benefitted from such schemes and whether the Centre had given any compensation to the families of the victim farmers. The Centre had initiated various interventions and projects for the welfare of farmers such as PM-KISAN, minimum support price by providing minimum 50 per cent return over cost of production, soil health card, neem coated urea, Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinhchayee Yojana, National Food Security Mission, National Mission on Oilseeds and Oil Palm, Paramparagat Krishi Vikas Yojana, Mission Organic Value Chain Development for North Eastern Regions, Mission Integrated Development of Horticulture, Integrated Pest Management, Integrated Nutrient Management, National Mission on Sustainable Agriculture, Watershed Development Project, Sub-mission on Agricultural Mechanisation and Custom Hiring Centres, Sub-mission on Seeds and Planting Material, Per Drop More Crop, Kisan Credit Card and Interest Subvention Scheme, he explained. Further, the Centre supported these schemes by providing higher budgetary allocations, non-budgetary financial resources such as creating corpus funds like micro-irrigation fund, agriculture infrastructure funds, PM matasya sampadana yojana, animal husbandry infrastructure development fund and formation of FPOs, Gramin Agriculture Markets etc.