The Bombay high court on Thursday directed the Maharashtra government to furnish details of families of farmers who have committed suicide and also asked the state to pay attention to these families apart from coming up with schemes to prevent farmer suicides.
The division bench headed by Justice Naresh Patil observed that the government was coming up with schemes to prevent farmer suicides but it should also do something for families whose member/s had already committed suicide.
If the person who had committed suicide happened to be the family’s only earning member, who was to look after the family after him If such a family had land and there was no one to cultivate it, what was to happen to this land and the family The bench raised these questions and asked the government to take an initiative to help such families.
Advocate Ashutosh Kumbhkoni told the judges that as per data received, suicides had been committed by those who owned at least some land and a house which they were on the verge of losing. Suicides had not been committed by farm labourers and very poor persons.
The bench told the government to come up with consolidated schemes to provide permanent solutions to farmers’ problems; otherwise if their problems were only temporarily solved chances were they would face similar difficulties in future. The court suggested that the government come up with some kind of collective farming schemes that could reduce farmers’ financial burden.
The bench asked the government to collect data on families of farmers who had committed suicide and find out what was their current status and what were they doing for a livelihood.
