Mumbai:
The plight of farmers in the BJP ruled Maharashtra continued to remain unchanged as 235 peasants committed suicide for various reasons in September 2018, Maharashtra Relief and Rehabilitation Minister Chandrakant Patil told the Legislative Assembly in a written reply filed on Thursday. A total of 674 farmers killed themselves in the Marathwada region of the state between January and September 2018, the minister stated in his written response.
The minister said that as many as 15,629 farmers committed suicide between January 2001 and October 2018 in six districts of Vidarbha region. From January to September this year, 73 cases of farmers suicide have been registered in Nashik district alone. Of the deceased, 17 were eligible for financial compensation. Between 2004 and 2018, 114 farmers ended their lives due to various reasons in Kolhapur district.
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The numbers are scary and tells the story of the severe farm crisis the country is facing even as the ruling party at the state and the Centre continue to claim themselves farmer-friendly. In the speeches of Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, a numbers schemes for farmers’ benefit do find mention but, on the ground, things are little blurry.
Rs 48,000 crore were deposited in farmers' bank accounts: Devendra Fadnavis
While his own government’s data tells a different story, Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Friday claimed that Rs 48,000 crore have been deposited directly in the bank accounts of farmers over the last four years.
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While inaugurating Agro Vision Exhibition in Nagpur, the chief minister said that Rs 21,000 crore were given to farmers under the loan waiver scheme. The rest 27,000 were distributed under the benefit transfer schemes.
