Prompt payment of farmers’ compensation should be monitored by the PMO!
Reports of farmer’s suicides coming almost everyday and the nonseasonal rains is not the only reason.
There is a grim reality of the continuing trail of farmer’s suicides.
Over 3,000 farmers have taken their lives in the last three years alone. Over three lakh farmers died this way over the last few years, from 1995 onwards. Of course, the epicentre of this distress is Maharashtra followed by AP, Karnataka, MP and Kerala.UP is now in the spot with the UP government cheques for compensation bouncing in many districts!
You cant have a better irony and reflection on the state of affairs existing in the states and also a reflection on the administration at the Centre. The budget and the funds
dispersal comes from Delhi and the PMO is supposed to be watching things with an eagle eye.
The large number of farmers’s suicides has been taking place in Maharashtra for a long time. And comes next the UP state. In UP, tragically enough it is from Amethi, Rahul Gandhi’s parliamentary constituency that is in the news as we write. And that too comes on the day when we saw on the TV screen the tragedy that hit the Rajasthan farmer, Gajendra Singh who on the day the AAP leader Mr.Arvind Kejriwal conducted a farmers rally and this farmers with the symbol of the AAP party, the broom in his hand got on to the top of a tree near the Jantar Mantar rally venue and he fell and committed suicide in bizarre circumstances. The whole of India would have watched the scenes of this tragedy as it was taking place and no one; none of the cops present went to the rescue of saving the life of the farmers.
What then followed was more sickening.The leaders, from rahul Gandhi to Sitaram Yechury to Arvind Kejriwal went to the Ram Mamohar Lohia hospital and pay their respects.It all looked wholly disgusting, the channels called their appearances as the photo opportunities.It was.
The channels also played at the same time the poor farmer who committed suicide in Amethi and the deadman’s desolate wife cried and spoke on the TV screen asking in particular the Amethi MP!Of course it is another matter why no one from the Congress party,even the Amethi constituency representative even didn’t go and visit the orphaned family.
Of course, the Opposition candidate, namely Smiriti Irani, the HRD Minister in the Modi government who was earlier seen visiting her constituency, this time was missing.
It all becomes a clearly constructed story for the media display. The Amethis MP who has no time and he was away abroad for 57 days is another thing.Even after he came back or after coming to know of the tragedy he didn’t choose to visit his constituency and yet he found ti very easy and convenient that he could rush to the RM hospital in the capital and stand by the dead victim of the tragedy and he was seen along with other leaders to show himself in a more acceptable manner.
The TV channels also announced and gave the viewers the number of farmers suicides in UP, besides in other states like Haryana, Rajashtan and Telengana and other states.
What such news reporting amounts to? It wins some sympathy for the bereaved families and that is all?
Or, does such continuing tragedies lead the governments in the states and the Centre to make decisive action and release of funds?
We dont know for sure what the response of the governments are. Neither we hear the high profile ministers, be it the agriculture minister or the ICAR experts or the Prime Minister who must be keeping a tab on the happenings on the farm front?
There is a distinctive feeling that the Modi government reacts only to the barbs from Rahul Gandhi or Sonia Gandhi. It is also a reflection that how politics is reduced to some slagging matches of a flurry of words and phrases. Nothing more concrete.
It would be nice for the farmers to hear some solid statistics as to how much funds are released and how much compensation is paid to the victims of the farm tragedy.
It is seen that in many cases of compensation payments there is still bureaucratic wrangling and the money doesn’t reach the farmers immediately.
This much at least the PM or the PMO in particular should be monitoring the compensation distribution.
Of course, the land acquisition bill hangs fire in parliament and it is widely seen as getting further bogged down in the wake of the Delhi suicide by a young farmer.
The political parties are really behaving in a very cynical way with the Congress young leader on a pilgrimage to Kedarnath, Mr.Kejriwal with his wayward ways and the others, the less said the better!
Politics has become a bloody battle with no one has any time or idea as to what the future holds for the poor,the poor farmers of this country.