HYDERABAD: Union Agriculture and Farmer Welfare Minister Narendra Singh Tomar on Tuesday said that the number of farmer suicides in Telangana has decreased.
Replying to a question raised by Congress member A Revanth Reddy in the Lok Sabha, the Union Minister quoted the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) data and said that the number of farmers dying by suicide in Telangana was 898 in 2014, 1,358 in 2015, 632 in 2016, 846 in 2017, 900 in 2018, 491 in 2019 and 466 in 2020.
The Union Minister said that the major cause of farmer suicides was bankruptcy or indebtedness, farming-related issues, family problems or illness.
Tomar said that agriculture being a State Subject, the State governments take appropriate measures for the development of agriculture in the State. "However, the Central government supplements the efforts of States through appropriate policy measures and budgetary support and various schemes / programmes," the Union Minister said.
SC classification
Union Minister of State for Social Justice and Employment A Narayana Swamy, in a reply to Gaddam Ranjith Reddy and others on the classification of Scheduled Castes, said that a resolution adopted by the Telangana Legislative Assembly on categorisation of SCs was received in the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment on November 30, 2015.
The Union Minister said that the process of consultation with stakeholders was not yet completed. The issue of sub-categorisation of Scheduled Castes is also sub-judice in the Supreme Court in the case of State of Punjab and others versus Davinder Singh and others”, the Minister said in his reply.
No proposal to hike SC quota
To another question raised by Congress MP N Uttam Kumar Reddy, Narayana Swamy said the Centre did not receive any proposal from Telangana to increase the reservations to SCs as per their population. The Union Minister said that the percentage of SCs in Telangana, as per Census 2011, was 15.43 per cent.