PM's Farmer Outreach in Karnataka That Witnessed 1,000 Suicides Last Year

Bengaluru: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be visiting Karnataka today for a rally as part of his farmer outreach programme. The PM is scheduled to speak later this afternoon at Belagavi in the north of the state.

This is the PM's third step in his outreach schedule after Madhya Pradesh and Odisha and next is Uttar Pradesh.

Congress-ruled Karnataka has seen more than 1,000 farmer suicides last year. The sugarcane belt of Mandya was badly hit with non-operational sugarcane factories not buying the farmers' crop and leaving them deeply in debt.

Hemmige village lies in the verdant heart of Mandya district. But the lush sugarcane is no guarantee of well-being for the farmers who grow it. 46-year-old HK Mahesh, six lakhs in debt, hanged himself from a tree on his land on Thursday morning.

His wife, Puttathayama, told NDTV: "He did this because of his debts. He didn't tell his wife and children. He had 6 lakhs loan, he had pledged my jewellery... He was growing sugarcane, but the factories were giving us nothing. It was no use."
 The huge government Mysugar factory in Mandya has been closed for two years. Other private factories are not paying the minimum fixed price - and farmers say they are earning just Rs 500 per tonne of sugarcane.

Mahesh's younger brother, Mahendra, said,"For the last two years we have had no profit from our crops. The sugar factory has been closed for 2 years. Where do we take the sugarcane we grow? They have made the Mandya sugarcane factory a graveyard."

The government says that factories have started crushing sugarcane now with a support price of Rs 2,300 a tonne. They say Rs 5 lakhs in compensation, a job and support for education for the family left behind should help. But those promises do not bring much cheer to the bereaved households.