Farmers Commit Suicide In Tamilnadu

CPI(M) Demands Well-Planned Drought Relief Throughout State

G Ramakrishnan

THE Cauvery delta, once called the granary of Tamilnadu, faces an acute agricultural crisis. Today it is a scene of tragic starvation deaths and poverty-induced suicides.

Shanmugam (52) of Palayakkottai, Kottur block, Tiruvarur district, was a small farmer, cultivating 1.5 acres of irrigated land on lease. Last year, four days of continuous rain played havoc with the samba crop on his land. This year, Shanmugam and others in his village could not grow a kuruvai crop for want of water.

In the current season, he borrowed money to raise a samba crop. But water was not released from the Mettur reservoir, and his crop withered. Shanmugam was desperate; he was unsure of repaying the money he had borrowed, and his family faced starvation. He hanged himself from a tree near his house on January 7. In a suicide note, he wrote that he had planned to commit suicide with his whole family, but that he had decided eventually to spare the others in the family. The note also contained an appeal to the chief minister to support his family.

CPI(M) state secretary N Varadarajan and R Nallakannu of the CPI appealed to the chief minister to pay compensation to Shanmugam's family and to provide free rice to poor families in the districts.

Shanmugam’s suicide was not the first of its kind. A few days ago, Veerayyan (60), a marginal farmer of Saliamangalam in Thanjavur district, also committed suicide for reasons of poverty. While state government officials said the suicide was not poverty-induced, the fact is that his crop withered, and then his inability to repay his debts drove him to commit suicide by drinking pesticide.

In the same Cauvery river basin, Prakash, a 7 years old boy, starved to death two months ago. On that occasion as well, the state government did not agree that he had died of starvation. The press and teams from mass organisations such as the All India Democratic Women’s Association (AIDWA) and Students Federation of India (SFI) went to the village and investigated the circumstances of Prakash’s death. Their conclusion was that Prakash’s death was most certainly the consequence of hunger.

Instead of dealing with the grim situation in the Cauvery river basin, the state government has been making attempts to cover up the reality of starvation deaths and poverty-induced suicides.

At midnight on January 9, the police raided the house of CPI MLA Sivapunniyam, and demanded that he give them the suicide note left by Shanmugam. On hearing the news of this high-handed action of the police, supporters of the CPI(M) and CPI picketed traffic, demanding that action be taken against the police officials who had raided the house of the CPI MLA. The picketing ended after police officials assured the protestors that action would be taken against the guilty police personnel.

Tamilnadu is reeling under the impact of the failure of two consecutive monsoons. Unless the state and central governments implement a well-planned drought relief programme quickly, the threat of starvation deaths shall rapidly become a menace.

With Cauvery waters not flowing into Tamilnadu in time for cultivation, and with the failure of the monsoon, the agricultural sector is in a crisis. The worst hit are the lakhs and lakhs of agricultural labourers and poor peasants who have no alternative sources of employment.

The short-term kuruvai crop on over 1.2 lakh hectares had to be abandoned. The samba crop is also hard hit. In a normal agricultural year, samba rice is grown on about 14 lakh acres; this year, that figure has come down to 7.5 lakh acres. With no irrigation water this year, paddy crop standing in the fields began to wither.

In response to a call by all kisan organisations, the people of the delta region observed a total bandh on January 9. They demanded water and drought relief.

For the farmers of the Cauvery basin, this is the third consecutive loss of crops. The state government has not proposed any comprehensive drought-relief programme, and the funds allotted by the central government a few months ago were grossly inadequate in comparison to the people’s need.

Amidst a crisis of such magnitude, the state chief minister announced on January 8 that “one free meal would be provided to all family members of drought-affected farmers in all the 28 districts of the state except Chennai.” provisions are to be supplied at local noon meal centres, the chief minister said. Landless agricultural labourers and small and marginal farmers are to register themselves at the panchayat and town panchayat offices by January 13 in order to obtain food coupons. The state government also announced a new food for work programme to provide gainful employment to farmers and agricultural labourers in all districts.

All opposition parties in the state demanded that, instead of distributing cooked food at the noon meal centres, the government must give drought-affected families 30 kilograms of rice and cash relief every month. The food for work programme should be implemented and supervised by all-party committees at the village level. Opposition parties also demanded adequate compensation for crop losses to farmers and agricultural workers.

In its meeting of January 11 and 12, the Tamilnadu state committee of the CPI(M) has decided to organise a padayatra campaign in all parts of the state against the anti-people policies of the state and central governments on February 4. More that 1000 squads of party members will take part in it.