The Karnataka High Court on Tuesday pulled up the state government over its relief policy to families of farmers who have died by suicide. The court asked the Karnataka Chief Secretary to clarify why the compensation payable to the families of farmers who died by suicide was not extended to those who borrowed from private moneylenders.
A division Bench comprising Chief Justice Abhay Shreeniwas Oka and Justice S Vishwajith Shetty resolutely objected to the classification by the state government whereby financial aid was provided to families of those deceased farmers who availed of loans from banks and financial institutions. It also urged the Chief Secretary to look at the seriousness of the situation while filing an affidavit on the matter in three weeks’ time.
The bench observed that the government policy was seemingly discriminatory; noted that farmers have been categorised based on where they had borrowed money. The judges said that the objective to compensate the family is the debt, regardless of where the money was borrowed from, which prompted the farmer to die by suicide.
The Chief Secretary was also directed by the bench to explain why the farmers were forced to approach the private moneylenders instead of going to other financial institutions or banks.
According to LiveLaw, the bench also announced, “If the same family who have suffered at the hands of the private moneylenders also have taken loan from the banks or other notified institutions, the family is still entitled for the benefit, subject to satisfaction of any and or all other conditions.”
A government report had mentioned that of 125 farmers who died by suicide between 2016 and 2020 in Shahpur taluk, 20 families were not eligible to receive compensation since they had borrowed money from private moneylenders.
These directions were issued during a hearing of a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed in 2019 by Akhanda Karnataka Raitha Sangha of Yadgir district. The petitioner had complained that many farmers of Shahpur Taluk were denied benefits under Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana for crop loss though they had paid the premium.