Should I repay loan or commit suicide? says Chhattisgarh farmer after receiving Rs 81 for crop damage

Raipur: A farmer hailing from Surguja area in Chhattisgarh is peeved with the administration for issuing him a cheque of Rs 81 for crop loss.

After receiving the cheque, the distressed farmer said that what would he do with the meagre amount.

“Should I repay loan that I had taken, with this amount (Rs 81) or commit suicide,” Jairam said.

In the past, many farmers from across the country have raised their voice against the various governments for doling out a pittance as compensation for crop damage.

In 2013, the then Bupinder Singh Hooda government in Haryana had given compensation amount of Rs 2 and 3 for crop damage to the farmers of Beri tehshil in Jhajjar district, whose crop was damaged due to water logging after the rains in 2011.

After the devastating floods in Jammu and Kashmir in 2014, farmers in Jammu district were issued compensation cheques ranging from a meagre Rs 32 to Rs 113.