Rights groups seek government aid for families of 18 deceased farmers

Calling out the State government for its ‘apathy’, Rythu Swarajya Vedika (RSV) and Human Rights Forum (HRF) demanded that the officials immediately provide assistance to families of 18 farmers who allegedly ended their lives due to the agrarian crisis in Anantapur district.

In a press release on Tuesday, activists from the two organisations pointed out that none of the 18 families received any compensation as mandated by the G.O.Ms.No.43. Moreover, most of the widows in these families are yet to receive their pensions as well. Farmers’ families are eligible to receive ₹7 lakh ex gratia if the suicides were due to agrarian distress.

According to the G.O.Ms.No 102, dated October 14, 2019, a Village Revenue Officer should visit the family on the same day of the incident (suicide) and a mandal-level committee should submit a preliminary report to the Divisional Level Committee within 24 hours. The Divisional Level Committee, led by Revenue Divisional Officer, should verify the information and submit recommendations for grant of ex gratia within seven days.

However, the HRF and RSV teams, which visited the families scattered across 18 villages in nine mandals of three revenue divisions in the district on June 27 and 28, stated in a release that while the mandal-level committee visited some of these families and verified the suicides as farm-related, their visit was not followed by the RDO-led committee and compensation has not been disbursed to these families till date.

According to information collated by the HRF, around 150 farmers reportedly ended their lives in the combined Anantapur district from the beginning of the year 2024 to date, and not one has received compensation.

In most cases, those who ended their lives were reportedly farmers having small portions of land, where they cultivated highly risky and market-oriented cotton, chilli, tomato, groundnut and other crops. Lack of water availability, failure of borewells, increasing temperatures, high input costs, lack of assured price for the produce, recurring pest attacks were reportedly the reasons that pushed farmers to the brink.

The HRF and RSV activists said the government should not look away from the agrarian crisis in the district and ensure that the Divisional-Level Committee completes the inquiry and the families receive assistance at the earliest.