The Supreme Court of India has given six-month time to the central government for the implementation of those schemes which, the government said, were in the stage of either conceptualisation or implementation when the SC bench headed by the Chief Justice, J S Khehar, and Justice D Y Chandrachud asked the government about the measures taken by the authorities to reduce the increasing incidence of the farmer suicide cases. The Citizens Resource and Action Initiative has been the petitioner in the case. For them, Counsel Colin Gonsalves has appeared before the court. The Attorney General, K K Venugopal, has agreed upon the court’s and petitioner’s view that the farmer suicide is a serious issue. The Attorney General has enumerated the schemes initiated by the government aimed at helping the farmer community and bringing down the farmer suicide cases among the community members. He has mentioned about the farmer welfare schemes, insurance schemes, loan repayment schemes, Kisan Credit cards and, more importantly, the State/UT Agricultural Produce and Livestock Marketing (Promotion and Facilitation) Act 2017, the act the government is trying to enact in order to ensure multiple market channels. Recognising the fact that the farmer suicide issue cannot be solved through a single step, though the government through the Attorney General requested nearly one-year time to implement the programs, the court has given the central government six-month time.As per the report, the Niti Ayog is trying to make a feasible program in order to solve the issues prevailing in the farmer sector in which the preponderance of our rural population depends for their livelihood. Though among the three sectors -the agricultural, manufacturing and service- the service sector is the one which provides the maximum amount of revenue to the country’s GDP, the majority of our labour force relays on the agricultural sector which contributes the least.
Vignesh
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