Kerala High Court did its part but farmer ends life

Paddy receipt sheet system has become a ledger of loss as farmers in Kerala are the second most debt-ridden in India.

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IN September, Kerala farmers, disgruntled by the complexities and delays in government payments for the paddy they sold, approached the Kerala High Court, and the court ruled in their favour. The government was told to ensure money for the farmers.

Unfortunately, despite the court's intervention, a farmer has reportedly committed suicide by consuming poison on Friday night. He was rushed to a hospital, but was declared dead on Saturday by medics.

K.G. Prasad, the Dalit farmer from Ambedkar Colony in Thakazhi, Kerala, who ended his life due to financial hardship, had called his friend over phone hours before consuming poison to express his despair and regret at being a farmer. He repeatedly complained about the difficulty of obtaining a loan, even after selling his paddy to the government.

While farmers lament their fate and blame climate change, government apathy and a skewed 'paddy receipt sheet' (PRS) system, economists point to the state's bad finances as the root cause.

On September 20, while hearing the petition of the farmers, Kerala High Court Justice Devan Ramachandran observed that the petitioners (farmers) cannot be further prejudiced solely because Supplyco (the government agency) has failed to raise the resources to meet its contractual obligations, nor can they be held responsible for any delays in the grant of loans by the financing bank to Supplyco under the tripartite agreement between the two and the government.

"Shifting any such responsibility onto the shoulders of the farmers is uncharitable and, in any case, wholly impermissible," the justice added.

In Kerala, the state-run procurement agency Supplyco guarantees a minimum support price for paddy and provides farmers with a PRS. Farmers can present this PRS to banks to obtain a loan for the equivalent amount of paddy sold.