Farmers decry relief as insult to injury

For the ryots who lost everything this season, allotting Rs 5,465 for paddy, Rs 3,000 for rain-fed crops and Rs 7,287 for long term crops is a farce, nothing will even remotely benefit the farmers, said PR Pandian, Convenor, Federation of Cauvery Delta All Farmers Associations. 

Late chief minister J Jayalalithaa had sanctioned Rs 15,000 per acre in 2013-14 itself, which was the cultivation cost, he recalled. “For the Rs 25,000 invested by the farmers, the government is announcing just Rs 5,000. The crop insurance will never help the farmers. How come the suicides will abate among the farmers,” Pandian rued to DTNext. 

“While the cost of cultivation has been going north, the government relief is going south,” quipped R Raja Chidambaram, state secretary of Tamil Nadu Vivasayigal Sangam. This relief package can never help the ryots to overcome the loss due to lack of water from Mettur and poor ground water levels, he added. “Farmers are befooled,” he charged. 

Mahadanapuram V Rajaram, working president of the Cauvery Delta Farmers’ Welfare Association suggested the farmers to get Annavari certificate to avail the insurance. The compensation will be distributed based on the loss percentage ranging between 30 and 80 and the beneficiaries should possess the certificate, he said.  The compensation amount announced by the state government for the rain-fed crops were not sufficient and is adding insult to the injury claimed farmers of southern districts who had cultivated rainfed crops. Speaking to this paper, Varadharajan, state vice president, MDMK farmers wing, claimed that every farmer had incurred a loss of at least Rs 10,000 per acre for the cultivation of rain-fed crops. “They feel short changed now,” he said.  

Though the government had promised that the remaining amount would be given through insurance, it depends upon the report submitted by the officials. The insurance amount should be distributed to them before August to carry out cultivation for this year demanded Varadharajan. 

In the western districts farmers are seething with anger over the compensation amount announced by the government as drought relief. “It would have been better if the government had not thrown peanuts for the heavy losses we incurred. We feel humiliated and have lost hope in the government,” said R Chandrasekaran, president of Kalkurichi Vellalapatti Vivasayigal Sangam. 

“The announcement clearly shows that the CM lacks basic knowledge of agriculture. The government has come with a scheme that would not help farmers to the bare minimum,” he added.  On the compensation announced by the government, they said it was less than a tenth of the investment of farmers. Turmeric farmers in Erode district said that the investment is Rs 80,000 to Rs 1.2 lakh per acre and Rs 30,000 to Rs 50,000 per acre of sugarcane cultivation. Farmers growing tapioca in Salem and Namakkal districts said that they invest Rs 40,000 to Rs 50,000 per acre. Chandrasekaran recalled that the CM announced waiver of tax for land. 

“It is a mere Rs 5 per acre punjai (dry land) and Rs 12 per acre for nanjai (wet land). What difference would the waiver of this meagre tax make?” he asked. Kalingarayan Pasana Vivasayegal Sangam president V M Velayutham said that announcements made by the Chief Minister without understanding the ground reality would instigate more suicides by farmers in this region, where farm suicides are emerging and alarming. 

“Sadly, no MLA or MP from the ruling party has visited or consoled the family of deceased farmers,” he added.

Participating in a protest at Kumbakonam on Tuesday, PMK founder Dr S Ramadoss asked the farmers to “Agitate against the ruling party.” He added that presently there is no water for irrigation, soon there will not be water even for drinking.  “The ruling AIADMK is answerable for the agrarian distress in the state. If the Delta farmers come forward to struggle against the state government, the PMK would stand by them,” he stressed. 

Ramadoss asked the Chief Minister and his cabinet colleagues to besiege the house of Prime Minister in New Delhi and pressurise the Centre to provide more relief for the drought affected state.   Anbumani Ramadoss, MP and the youth wing president of PMK said farmers lost Kuruvai crop for the past five years. This year they have lost Samba too. He took a dig at the Centre by saying that it has been acting against the interests of Tamil Nadu by not constituting the Cauvery Management Board despite the Supreme Court order. He came down on Karnataka for refusing to release Cauvery water even after the repeated SC orders.