Professor Swaminathan on farmer suicides: Life-saving profession has become life-taking

Expressing concern over farmers suicide, scientist MS Swaminathan, known for his role in the Green Revolution, said on Saturday if a "life-saving profession" like farming becomes "life-taking" then "something is really wrong". 

Speaking at the Indian Science Congress in Tirupati, Swaminathan said gram panchayats should be sensitised about the issue and they should play a pro-active role in tackling the issue. 

"Farming is a life-saving profession, and if it is to become a life-taking profession then something is very wrong," he said. He said though factors contributing to farmers taking the extreme step vary from region to region, debt remains the major reason. "Gram panchayats should develop some kind of mechanism to deal with them as they are aware about distressed families in any village (under them)," he said.

He said farming is the "most riskiest" profession. "The reasons for the deaths vary. Vidarbha has got one set of reasons while Tamil Nadu has got another. One has to study it carefully. The community, the gram panchayats, as a whole should develop some mechanism so that suicides could be prevented.

They know the families who are in acute distress," Swaminathan said. The senior scientist added India has come a long way--from the famines of Bengal in 1943 to enacting the National Food Security Act 2013. The thrust should now be on adding nutrition element to it, he said.