Agri minister Kurasala Kannababu refutes 'false' allegations on farmer suicides

Amaravati: Minister of agriculture Kurasala Kannababu clarified that the farmers' suicides registered by the government and those stated by NCRB have contradictions.

At a press conference here on Friday, Kannababu slammed a section of media for falsely interpreting the NCRB data on farmer suicides. Although the NCRB clearly mentioned that the cause of the suicides was not listed and generalised it as farmers' suicides, a section of media has been deliberately trying to blame the government, stating that the number of farmer suicides had increased, said the minister.

In the recent NCRB report, it was staged that 889 farmers committed suicide during 2020, but the three-men committee had confirmed the number as only 225.

Kannababu said that the contradictions have been happening for a long while and added that the Commissioner of Agriculture Department had already taken the issue to the notice of DGP, as the police department usually provides the data to the Centre. He said that the current government had disbursed compensation to the 466 families of the farmers who committed suicides, and was abandoned by the previous TDP government.

He said that the government is biased towards farmer welfare, where in fact the farmers' distress has been addressed with various initiatives since the day of forming the government, leading to a sharp fall in suicides. Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy had clearly instructed to provide immediate compensation to the families of the farmers that committed suicide and in this regard each district collector was given a fund of Rs 1 crore. Further, the minister flayed TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu for terming Andhra Pradesh as drug capital and defaming the state. He reminded that former TDP ministers Ch Ayyanna Patrudu and Ganta Srinivas Rao have stated that ganja cultivation was prevalent in Visakhapatnam region and took no action in restricting it. However, Jagan Mohan Reddy formed the State Enforcement Bureau in 2019 and took strict measures. So far, almost three lakh kg ganja was seized, over 5,000 people were arrested and 1,500 vehicles have been seized by SEB.

Responding on the attack on Naidu in Kuppam, he said that YSRCP leaders have got no reason to attack Naidu, as he was already defeated by the people of Kuppam in local-body polls.