Taking a serious view of spate of suicides by farmers in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, the Hyderabad High Court on Tuesday, the 29th September 2015, asked both the state governments to submit detailed reports in two weeks. The high court, which has jurisdiction over both these states, sought details of the farmers who committed suicide and also the steps being taken by the two states to help farmers overcome the hardships.
A division bench of Acting Chief Justice Dilip B. Bhosale and Justice S.V. Bhatt, hearing a public interest litigation (PIL) seeking direction to the Telangana and Andhra Pradesh governments to take visionary steps to prevent farmers suicides, suggested that the government should take the issue seriously and study the reasons for the farmers taking the extreme step.
It observed that mere payment of ex-gratia to the families of farmers who are ending their lives will not help.
The bench also wondered as to why the governments had not constituted any committee to go into the reasons for farmers committing suicides when they form such panels to look into every issue.
The court posted the matter to Oct 13 for further hearing.
Vyavasaya Jana Chaitanya Samithi, an NGO which filed the PIL, argued that farmers have been committing suicide in both the Telugu states due to the financial distress.
The petitioner, brought to the notice of the court that the number of farmers’ suicides have been increasing by the day and recorded 1,347 and 160 suicides in the states of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, respectively, during the past one year.
The NGO alleged that both the state governments have failed to take preventive measures in spite of the increase in farmers’ suicides.
