The three farmers who committed suicide on Sunday in Mahbubnagar, Andhra Pradesh
A day before the UPA government's flagship Food Security Bill was debated and passed in the Lok Sabha, three farmers committed suicide in a single district of Andhra Pradesh.
The deaths on Sunday mocked the ruling coalition's newspaper ads plugging its farmer-friendly policies the very same day, with the ironic title "Tribute to Farmers".
Venkataiah, Thirumalaiah and Ramulu all lived within 50 km of each other in the state's Mahbubnagar district. They didn't know each other but shared the desperation and hopelessness in a district which has seen 30 farmer suicides this year.
Venkataiah, who had borrowed heavily to grow cotton, ended his life by taking pesticide, leaving three young children. "With two people working we were not able to look after our children, now what am I going to do? How can you do this to me?'' his wife cried.
Thirumalaiah had returned to his village determined to succeed and full of dreams. He borrowed and planted paddy on his own piece of land and four acres taken on lease. But his borewells failed and Thirumalaiah gradually lost all hope.
Ramulu hanged himself in his home, too poor to feed his children and owing more than two lakh rupees to several people.
When the Food Bill, the government's biggest step to fight hunger, was being discussed in the Lok Sabha on Monday, Ramulu's wife Ramulamma was wondering what her two sons would eat at night. She had performed her husband's last rites using money contributed by others.
"The 16 kg rice we get in the ration shop does not last more than two weeks. Where is the money to buy from the market?" said Ramulamma.
In their ads, the Ministry of Agriculture claimed that foodgrain production had shot up from 213 million tonnes in 2003-04 to 255 million tonnes in 2012-13, and so had the minimum support price to farmers.
"Sounds more like a last tribute to farmers,'' commented agricultural scientist G.Ramanajaneyulu, who said more than 40 per cent of the money for agriculture went into non-farm purposes. "Farmers are subsidising the foodgrains bought and sold by the government, rather than the other way round," he said.