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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South African police arrest suspect in mass shooting that killed 12, including 3 children
Johannesburg (AP): A 32-year-old suspect has been arrested in connection with a mass shooting which claimed the lives of 12 people including three children at an unlicensed pub earlier this month, South African police said on Monday.
The man is suspected of being one of the three people who opened fire on patrons in a pub at Saulsville township, west of South Africa's capital Pretoria, killing 12 people including three children aged 3, 12 and 16.
At least 13 people were also injured during the attack, whose motive remains unknown.
According to the police, the suspect was arrested on Sunday while traveling to Botlokwa in Limpopo province, more than 340 km from where the mass shooting took place on Dec 6.
An unlicensed firearm believed to have been used during the attack was recovered from the suspect's vehicle.
“The 32-year-old suspect was intercepted by Limpopo Tracking Team on the R101 Road in Westenburg precinct. During the arrest, the team recovered an unlicensed firearm, a hand gun, believed to have been used in the commission of the multiple murders. The firearm will be taken to the Forensic Science Laboratory for ballistic analysis,” police said in statement.
The suspect was arrested on the same day that another mass shooting at a pub took place in the Bekkersdal township, west of Johannesburg, in which nine people were killed and 10 wounded when unknown gunmen opened fire on patrons.
Police have since launched a search for the suspects.
South Africa has one of the highest homicide rates in the world and recorded more than 26,000 homicides in 2024 — an average of more than 70 a day. Firearms are by far the leading cause of death in homicides.
The country of 62 million people has relatively strict gun ownership laws, but many killings are committed with illegal guns, according to authorities.
According to police, mass shootings at unlicensed bars are becoming a serious problem. Police shut down more than 11,000 illegal taverns between April and September this year and arrested more than 18,000 people for involvement in illegal liquor sales.
