HYDERABAD: Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar informed Rajya Sabha during Question Hour on Friday that farmer suicides have drastically reduced in the last five years in Telangana.
He said that the farmer suicides reported in Telangana were 846 in 2017, 900 in 2018, 491 in 2019, 466 in 2020 and 352 in 2021.
Responding to this, State Minister Singireddy Niranjan Reddy said that though the number of farmer suicides has been reducing every year, some people were resorting to the false propaganda against the government. He recalled that around 90,000 families of farmers received insurance amounts under Rythu Bima. “Opposition parties should stop doing politics on farmer suicides at least now, as the Union Minister categorically stated that the suicides were reducing in the State,” Niranjan Reddy said.
Women and mobile phones
To another question, Union Electronics and Information Technology Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said that 60 per cent of women in Telangana in the age group of 15-49 years, have a mobile phone that they themselves use, as per the fifth round of National Family Health Survey (NFHS-5), 2019-21. MoS (Communications) Devusinh Chauhan informed the Rajya Sabha that 252 villages in the State were still without 4G coverage.