5 Farmer Suicides in KCR's District, Telangana Yet to Declare Drought

Hyderabad, Telangana: A single village in Telangana chief minister, K Chandrasekhar Rao's home district Medak, has recorded 34 farmer suicides, five of them after the new state of Telangana was born. Opposition parties say even though farmer suicides are being reported everyday, the chief minister is reluctant to declare a drought.

Families of the 34 farmers, who ended their life in Yelkal village of Medak district, were brought to Hyderabad by the BJP, to showcase the crisis on the ground.

Among them was 24-year-old Madhavi's husband, who took two acres of agricultural land on lease, but there was no water. He dug a borewell too, but the crops dried up. He killed himself because he felt humiliated when moneylenders asked him to repay.

"Many farmer suicides in our village... They take land on lease and grow crop. When it dries up, and they can't repay loan, they kill themselves. For the women and children, it is like a living death. I have two small children. Should we live or die,'' Madhavi asks.

When NDTV asked, "You got no help? No leader came to your rescue?'' She said, "We got no help at all. I don't think anyone is really bothered whether we die or live.''

The Telangana Rashtriya Samiti government admits the crisis is real, but they have inherited the legacy of suicides.

K Kavitha, the chief minister's daughter and lawmaker said, "We will not walk away from our responsibility but we have no magic wand to undo what is so wrong in last 60 years.''

Opposition parties say the chief minister wants to create an illusion that all is hunky-dory and is reluctant to declare a drought, as it could stop major investment coming into the state.  The BJP has been very critical of the chief ninister taking a private jet for Rs two crore at a time of such rural crisis.

Critics point out that even last year, the government failed to declare a drought and this year too several districts have received less than 50 per cent rainfall.