Maharashtra: 73 farmers commit suicide in Chandrapur from Jan to July 2023
Chandrapur (PTI):As many as 73 farmers have committed suicide in Maharashtra's Chandrapur district from January to July this year, including 13 last month, as per the district administration data.
From 2001 to 2023, 1,148 farmers have ended their lives in the district, including 446 in the last five years, according to the data.
A committee comprising the district collector, zilla parishad chief executive officer and superintendent of police had declared 745 farmers, who committed suicide between 2001 and 2022, as eligible for government compensation and 329 deceased cultivators as ineligible, as per the district administration.
The district administration had sent a proposal to the government for providing compensation to the kin of the deceased farmers and 48 cases are pending from December 2022, the data said.
"We are following guidelines updated in 2006 for providing the compensation amount of Rs 1 lakh to the kin of farmers who commit suicide," a senior official from the collectorate said.
In case of suicide by farmers, the government provides compensation based on a fixed criteria.
For reasons like crop loss, inability to repay loan from nationalised banks/co-operative banks or recognised moneylender, and failure to repay the loan, the kin of farmers will be eligible for a compensation of Rs 1 lakh, out of which Rs 30,000 will be handed over to them, while the remaining amount of Rs 70,000 will be deposited for five years into their accounts, as per the government resolution issued in 2006.
A total of 54,514.65 hectares of crops belonging to 64,379 farmers in the district were damaged recently due to the flood in June-July this year, a senior official from the agriculture department said.
He said a total of 852 villages were affected due to the flood in the district.
Gondpipri tehsil recorded the highest crop damage on 12,571 hectares of land, he said.
The department has already sent a proposal of Rs 44.63 crore of compensation for crop damages in the district, the official said.
A total of 3,51,091 farmers have taken Re 1 (premium) crop insurance under the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) in the district, including 50,890 farmers who have taken loans and 3,00,201 non-loanee cultivators, according to the agriculture department.
A total of 3,28,155.26 hectares of crop have been insured under the PMFBY in the district, it said.
The state government will pay the premium of Rs 98,59,30,865.33 while the central government will pay the premium of Rs 45,05,15,938.23 to the insurance company on behalf of farmers for crop insurance, the official said.
Loans worth Rs 87489.25 crore were given to 98,177 farmers from district cooperative bank, public sector banks (nationalised) and gramin bank during the kharif and rabi seasons in 2022-23, against the target of Rs 129100 crore given to the banks by the government, a senior official from the district administration said.
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Two arrested in K'taka for assaulting minors, uploading CSAM content
Bengaluru (PTI): Two men were arrested for allegedly sexually assaulting two minor girls, recording the acts on mobile phones and uploading the videos online as child sexual abuse material, police said on Thursday.
The accused have been identified as Kiran Kumar (29), hailing from Chitradurga district, and Aditya M K (20), hailing from Shivamogga district, they said.
A probe was initiated after information was received from the NCRP portal regarding a suspected instance of creation of Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM) for online dissemination, police said.
Accordingly, a case was registered at Kaggalipura Police Station under relevant sections of the IT Act on May 10, they added.
Investigation revealed that two minor girl victims were exploited and videos were created and uploaded to the internet. The child victims have subsequently recorded their statements as per procedure and further necessary legal steps have been taken, Pronab Mohanty Director General of Police, Cyber Command, said in a statement.
Based on the statements of the victims, the accused persons, who allegedly assaulted the minors, recorded the acts on mobile phones and uploaded the videos online, were arrested, he said.
Following the probe, sections 65(2) (rape) and 70 (gangrape) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, along with relevant sections of the POCSO Act, have been added to the FIR, police said.
Officials collected relevant information and on May 12, arrested the accused persons and seized three mobile phones belonging to them, in which the videos had allegedly been recorded, he said.
The accused were later produced before the court and taken into police custody for further investigation, he added.
According to him, in CSAM cases, police usually apprehend offenders who have downloaded such content or have kept them in their possession after obtaining them from elsewhere, usually the internet.
"The present case is one of the very few instances where content creators and uploaders have been apprehended," Mohanty added.
