Farmer suicides decline in Karnataka due to Congress-led govt guarantees, friendly schemes: Report
Bengaluru: Karnataka has witnessed a significant drop in farmer suicides, from 922 in the year 2022-23 and 1,061 in 2023-24 to 346 cases in the current year (2024-25). This reduction in distress is attributed to delay in loan recovery, timely input subsidies for seeds and fertilisers, good rainfall, and state government's initiatives.
Karnataka has faced a heavy toll of farmer suicides over the past few years, with a total of 2,329 recorded since 2022 due to farm distress, largely driven by crop loss due to floods and drought, according to data sourced from the Revenue Department, as cited by Deccan Herald on Saturday.
In the last three years, districts such as Haveri (254 suicides), Mysuru (167 suicides), and Dharwad (148 suicides) have been hit badly, with alarming numbers also reported from Kalaburagi (142) and Belagavi (141).
Despite these unfortunate incidents, the state government has worked to alleviate the burden by clearing compensation for the majority of these cases. Of the 2,329 reported suicides, only 20 cases remain unresolved due to technical issues. In addition, families of farmers who die by suicide receive a compensation of Rs 5 lakh, with the spouse entitled to a monthly pension of Rs 2,000. Farmers who die due to accidents, such as snakebites, are compensated with Rs 2 lakh.
Krishna Byre Gowda, the state's Revenue Minister, pointed to five guarantee schemes launched by the Congress government, which have provided crucial economic support to rural communities and are believed to have played a key role in preventing suicides in Karnataka. He told DH the importance of the government’s directive to financial institutions, urging them to issue “caution” notices to defaulting farmers rather than seizing their properties.
The government had also advised the state level bankers' committee to be sympathetic towards defaulting farmers since crops in Belagavi, Gadag, Vijayapura and Dharwad had been affected by heavy rains. Gowda also said the co-operation department and other departments had kept a tight vigil on private lenders and financial institutions, who charge high interest rates, the report added.
Notably, Shivanand Patil, Minister for Agriculture Marketing and Sugar, told the news outlet that initiatives like the Interest Subvention Scheme (ISS), along with the timely release of the Minimum Support Price (MSP) along with the state's component for several crops like coconut, food grains including urad dal, green gram, sunflower and maize have also helped in preventing suicides.
Patil further noted that increasing the zero percent loan to farmers to Rs 5 lakh and offering up to Rs 15 lakh loans at 3 percent interest rate have reduced farmers' reliance on private lenders.
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Quashing FIR of sexual assault, Delhi HC says some use provision to 'harass' men
New Delhi (PTI): The offence of rape is one of the most heinous crimes against women but some people use the legal provisions against it as a weapon to unnecessarily harass their male counterparts, the Delhi High Court has observed while quashing an FIR against a man.
The petitioner had moved the court, seeking to quash the FIR lodged against him for allegedly sexually assaulting a woman with whom he was earlier in a relationship. The high court noted that the FIR was nothing but an afterthought.
It said the recordings, WhatsApp chats and statements recorded before the magistrate clearly established that the ingredients of the offence of rape were not met as the man and the woman had consensually agreed to enter into a physical relationship, which was also not based on false promises of marriage.
"It is true that the provision under which the FIR has been lodged is one of the most heinous crimes against women. However, it is also an established fact that some people use it as a weapon to unnecessarily harass the male counterpart," Justice Chandra Dhari Singh said in a recent judgment.
The court said the case was a classic example of how an innocent person faced undue hardships due to the misuse of the penal provision and therefore, it was of the firm view that nothing would come out of the case if the matter was subjected to trial.
It observed that the courts were duty-bound to look into the possibility of the presence of an ulterior motive on the part of the prosecutrix to seek vengeance from the man.
The counsel for the man submitted that the petitioner and the complainant had been in a relationship earlier and had established physical relations with consent.
Due to some discord, the man and the complainant did not marry each other and later, a rape case was lodged against him, the counsel said.
However, the prosecutor opposed the quashing petition and said there were serious allegations against the petitioner and the complaint clearly establishes that he had sexually assaulted the woman.
Considering the material on record, the court noted that the woman was in constant touch with the petitioner and they both used to share details about their life on a daily basis and other personal details.
"It is not disputed by the petitioner that the parties had entered into a physical relationship, however, he claims the same to be consensual. It is also established from the statement recorded under section 164 of the CrPC of the prosecutrix that the parties had taken steps to get married, however, the families did not agree due to the caste factor," it noted.
The court further noted that despite the reservations from the man's family, he was ready to get married to the woman, but she did not show any interest later on and entered into a relationship with another person.
"The WhatsApp chats between the parties also show that the prosecutrix had sent several messages to the petitioner and conveyed information regarding her decision to get married to another person. Therefore, the instant FIR is nothing but an afterthought," it added.
