BHOPAL: Five days after Madhya Pradesh’s new Chief Minister, Kamal Nath, announced a waiver of short-term crop loans of up to Rs 2 lakh for all farmers in the state, a 42-year-old debt-ridden farmer allegedly committed suicide in Khandwa district on Saturday.
Tribal farmer Juban Singh was found hanging in his agricultural plot in Astaria village early on Saturday. This is the first case of suicide by a debt-ridden farmer in the state after Nath signed on the file on farm loan waivers, within two hours of his swearing-in ceremony on December 17.
Juban’s son Bhuvan Singh, alleged that his father had to repay loans amounting between Rs 3-5 lakh. “... Owing to the pending loan, recently, a family from the Khargone district refused to marry their daughter with my young brother, due to which my father further plunged into stress, which forced him to resort to the extreme step,” said Bhuvan.
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA from Pandhana seat Ram Dangore, blamed the new government. “The announcement by the CM has benefitted only 5% farmers, while other farmers like Juban Singh will continue to reel under the burden of mounting debt... ” the BJP MLA alleged.
Congress leader Chhaya More, who lost the recent assembly polls from Pandhana seat to Ram Dangore, meanwhile, blamed the anti-farmer policies of the 15-year rule of the BJP for farmers’ suicides.