Cuttack, July 1: The controversy over the spate of alleged suicides by farmers across the state last year has taken a new turn. The high court has directed the State Human Rights Commission (SHRC) to register a complaint on the issue and ascertain the cause of the deaths.
The order on a PIL assumes significance as the Naveen Patnaik government had maintained that crop failure was not the sole reason behind the farmers’ suicide. The government had attributed them to soil erosion, declining ground water level, productivity and the collapse of joint family system.
Agriculture minister Damodar Rout had admitted in the Assembly that 3,510 farmers committed suicide in the past decade in Orissa, the highest number being in 1998.
Bolangir Krushak Mahasangha (BKM) secretary Jati Pradhan had filed the petition seeking a probe by the State Human Rights Commission and compensation to the family of the 38 farmers who had allegedly committed suicide under acute loan burden and poverty last year.
“The two-judge bench of Chief Justice V. Gopalgowda and Justice Indrajeet Mohanty has asked the State Human Rights Commission to register a complaint on the suicides and inquire into them. It has been asked to consider the question of compensation,” the petitioner’s counsel Ashish Kumar Mishra told The Telegraph today.
“The order issued on Wednesday, however, has not set any timeframe for the SHRC to complete the inquiry and issue directions to the government. Hence, we are going to file a petition for review of the order soon,” Mishra said.
According to the order, SHRC is expected to consider the ban on all farm loans not covered under adequate insurance. It is likely to direct district collectors to assume proactive role in monitoring the disbursal of loans to farmers by private financiers and mode of loan repayments and measures to regulate private financing to farmers.
Incidentally, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) had in March this year sent a team to Bolan- gir to ascertain the ground realities of hunger related deaths in the western Orissa district.
Media reports had alleged chronic hunger and prolonged mal-nourishment of numerous children in the five blocks of Bolangir district — Khaprakhol, Belpada, Tureikela, Bongomunda and Muribahal following death of their parents.
