Lok Sabha Question No. 3387 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2018-08-07
Subject: Package to Farmers Family
Ministry: AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE
Asked by: NIHAL CHAND CHAUHAN, Sunil Kumar Jakhar, V. SATHYABAMA, RAM KUMAR SHARMA KUSHWAHA, KRUPAL BALAJI TUMANE, VINOD KUMAR SONKAR, BHAVANA GAWALI (PATIL), MAULANA BADRUDDIN AJMAL, SISIR KUMAR ADHIKARI

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE, COOPERATION AND FARMERS WELFARE

## LOK  SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.3387

TO BE ANSWERED ON THE 7 TH   AUGUST, 2018

## PACKAGE TO FARMERS FAMILY

3387.    SHRI NIHAL CHAND:

SHRI SUNIL JAKHAR:

SHRIMATI V. SATHYA BAMA:

SHRI RAM KUMAR SHARMA:

SHRI KRUPAL BALAJI TUMANE:

SHRI VINOD KUMAR SONKAR:

SHRIMATI BHAVANA PUNDALIKRAO GAWALI PATIL:

SHRI BADRUDDIN AJMAL:

SHRI SISIR KUMAR ADHIKARI:

Will the Minister of AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE कृ षि एवं ककसान कल्याण मंत्री be pleased to state:

- (a) whether  farmers  commit  suicide  as  the  rise  in  prices  of  agricultural  inputs  is  not commensurate with the Minimum Support Price for agricultural produce and if so, the details thereof;
- (b) whether  the  Union  Government  has  announced  any  compensation  package  and provided  assistance  to  the  family  members  of  those  farmers  who  commit  suicide  or  die unnatural death apart from the State Governments' assistance during the last three years and the current year and if so, the details thereof, State/UT-wise including North East States;
- (c) whether the Government has also provided funds to the State Governments to address the problems and issues of farmers' suicide during the said period and if so, the details thereof, State/UT-wise including North East States;
- (d) whether  cases  of  suicide  by  farmers  have  not  come  down  despite  more  loan disbursement by banks to farmers during the said period and if so, the details thereof and the steps taken/ proposed to be taken by the Government to set up financial institutions/corporations exclusively for overcoming farmers indebtedness in rural areas of the country; and
- (e) whether the Government has constituted monitoring committees in each State to check the suicide by farmers and if so, the details thereof along with the action plan prepared by the Government to address the problem of suicide by farmers in several parts of the country?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE

कृ षि एवं ककसान कल्याण मंत्रालय में राज्य मंत्री (SHRI  GAJENDRA SINGH SHEKHAWAT)

- (a): Cost of production is one of the important factors in the determination of MSPs. While recommending its Price policy, the CACP considers all costs in a comprehensive manner. The costs   include   all   paid  out costs such as   those  incurred on account of hired human labour,

bullock labour/machine labour, rent paid for leased in land, expenses incurred in cash and kind on the use of material inputs like seeds, fertilizers, manures, irrigation charges, depreciation on implements  and  farm  buildings,  interest  on  working  capital,  diesel/electricity  for  operation  of pump sets etc, miscellaneous expenses and imputed value of family labour. Hence the costs considered are very comprehensive and based on the methodology recommended by Expert Committees from time to time.

(b) & (c): Agriculture is a state subject. State Governments take appropriate measures for development of agriculture sector and welfare of farmers including payment of compensation to the bereaved families of farmers affected by suicide. However, Union Government supplements the  efforts  of  the  states  through  appropriate  policies,  schemes/programmes  and  budgetary support. Various programmes/ schemes for the development of agriculture sector and welfare of farmers, inter-alia, include,  National  Food  Security  Mission,  Rashtriya  Krishi  Vikas  Yojana, Pradhan  Mantri  Fasal  Bima  Yojana,  Paramparagat  Krishi  Vikas  Yojana,  Soil  Health  Card  & Neem Coated Urea, Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchai Yojana, Interest Subvention Scheme and National Agriculture Market (e-NAM).

(d): Government has continuously enhanced the budgetary support to the agriculture sector to  provide  credit  to  farmers  at  a  reasonable  rate  of  interest.  As  per  the  available  data  from National  Crime  Records  Bureau  (NCRB),  overall  cases  of farmers  suicide  has  gone  up  from 2013 to 2015 at an all-India level. However, the state/UT wise disaggregated data of the NCRB on farmers' suicide given in Annexure points to a fall in most States/UTs. No proposal is under consideration  of  the  Government  to  set  up  financial  institutions/corporations  exclusively  for overcoming farmers indebtedness in rural areas.

(e): The  State  Governments/UTs  have  been  advised  to  constitute  Review  Committee  at district  and  state  level  for  the  welfare  of  farmers.  It  is  envisaged  that  the  Committee  would closely  monitor  the  field  situation  and  would  provide  inputs  for  taking  remedial  measures  to check farmers' suicide.

Suicides owing to economic reasons are best addressed and overcome by enabling the farmers to increase their income in a holistic manner. With this understanding, the Government is  targeting  to  double  the  income  of  the  farmers  by  the  year  2022.  To  achieve  this,  the Department  of  Agriculture,  Cooperation  and  Farmers'  Welfare  has  constituted  an  InterMinisterial Committee to examine various dimensions of farmers' income and to recommend an appropriate strategy. In the meanwhile, the Government is realigning its interventions to move from production-centric to farmers' income-centric platform.

Annexure

## Statement in respect to part(d) of Lok Sabha Unstarred Question No. 3387 due for 07.08.2018 regarding 'Package to farmers family'.

## Number of Farmer Suicides :

| S.No   | State                  | 2013   |   2014 |   2015 |
|--------|------------------------|--------|--------|--------|
| 1.     | Andhra Pradesh         | 2014   |    632 |    916 |
| 2.     | Telangana              | -      |   1347 |   1400 |
| 3.     | Arunachal Pradesh      | 37     |      3 |     10 |
| 4.     | Assam                  | 305    |     59 |    138 |
| 5.     | Bihar                  | 127    |     10 |      7 |
| 6.     | Chhattisgarh           | 0      |    755 |    954 |
| 7.     | Goa                    | 1      |      0 |      0 |
| 8.     | Gujarat                | 582    |    600 |    301 |
| 9.     | Haryana                | 374    |    119 |    162 |
| 10.    | Himachal Pradesh       | 33     |     63 |     46 |
| 11.    | Jammu &Kashmir         | 18     |     37 |     21 |
| 12.    | Jharkhand              | 142    |      4 |     21 |
| 13.    | Karnataka              | 1403   |    768 |   1569 |
| 14.    | Kerala                 | 972    |    807 |    210 |
| 15.    | Madhya Pradesh         | 1090   |   1198 |   1290 |
| 16.    | Maharashtra            | 3146   |   4004 |   4291 |
| 17.    | Manipur                | 1      |      0 |      1 |
| 18.    | Meghalaya              | 5      |      2 |      3 |
| 19.    | Mizoram                | 6      |      5 |      1 |
| 20.    | Nagaland               | 2      |      0 |      0 |
| 21.    | Odisha                 | 150    |    102 |     50 |
| 22.    | Punjab                 | 83     |     64 |    124 |
| 23.    | Rajasthan              | 292    |    373 |     76 |
| 24.    | Sikkim                 | 35     |     35 |     18 |
| 25.    | Tamilnadu              | 105    |    895 |    606 |
| 26.    | Tripura                | 56     |     32 |     49 |
| 27.    | Uttar Pradesh          | 750    |    192 |    324 |
| 28.    | Uttarakhand            | 15     |      0 |      2 |
| 29.    | West Bengal            | 0      |    230 |      0 |
|        | Total (States)         | 11744  |  12336 |  12590 |
| 1.     | A &NIslands            | 5      |      8 |      0 |
| 2.     | Chandigarh             | 0      |      0 |      0 |
| 3.     | Dadra and Nagar Haveli | 15     |      0 |      0 |
| 4.     | Daman &Diu             | 0      |      0 |      0 |
| 5.     | Delhi (UT)             | 8      |      0 |      0 |
| 6.     | Lakshadweep            | 0      |      0 |      0 |
| 7.     | Puducherry             | 0      |     16 |     12 |
|        | Total (UTs)            | 28     |     24 |     12 |
|        | Total (All India)      | 11772  |  12360 |  12602 |

Source: NCRB, 2015.

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