FARMERS' SUICIDES and HOOCH TRAGEDIES IN THE PAST

Many of us will remember the havoc caused by illegal liquor and the numerous deaths caused all over India and the heavy compensation paid by government because they were unable to control that tragedy. For every genuine claim probably there were a dozen bogus claims, but because it was a human tragedy, nothing was openly mentioned, lest one might be branded as 'heartless'. In one story I read the wife on finding her husband recovering from a hooch tragedy abusing and questioning him why did not he die and help the family instead of recovering and continuing to be a burden on it.

There is a lot of resemblance to that story to the present day tragedy of kisan death.  If the government is willing to take care of a family with an amount which they would have never seen in their life, any oppressed kisan will be tempted to go that route to fulfill his commitment to his wife and children. The government does not mind paying blood money just to show it is concerned with the issue but has not done anything about it.

This is not the way to go about it. At best the money payable should be kept in a trust and paid out on a monthly basis for living expenses, education of children and healthcare expenses along with premia for health and life insurance of family members. I am sure instead of lump sum payments if an insurance policy tailored for this particular purpose to which funds earmarked for lump sum payments is transferred, such deaths will become much less in number. Compulsory insurance of crops of those farmers below a certain level of income by government paying the premia will go a long way in mitigating the further accumulation of loans due to natural calamities. When taken into account the multi crore relief expenses undertaken by the government after a natural disaster, these preventive steps will cost much less and at the same time save the government huge future expenses on multiple suicides.

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