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Spectre of hunger looms over Anantapur district
Spectre of hunger looms over Anantapur district, A spectre of hunger is looming over Anantapur district as drought has returned to haunt the farmers.
- Unofficial reports show that at least 75 farmers committed suicide this year
- With this, total number of suicides has gone up to 887 since 1998
- Groundnut raised in 17 lakh acres dried up because of abnormally low rainfall
- Tearful tales of farmers have not so far made any impact on the powers-that-be
Anantapur: A spectre of hunger is looming over Anantapur district as drought has returned to haunt the farmers. The abnormally low rainfall during the south-west monsoon has made the lives of the farmers and farm labourers miserable.
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Against the normal rainfall of 550 mm, the district received just 280 mm during the south-west monsoon season. The farmers raised crop on 18 lakh acres. But most of the farmers could not start farm operations because of drought conditions in several parts of the district.
The groundnut raised in 17 lakh acres dried up, leaving the farmers in tears. The groundnut raised on one lakh acres under sprinkler irrigation, however, gave a good yield.
The district is haunted by drought for long. Reports of debt-ridden farmers committing suicide have started coming in. Unofficial estimates show that not less than 75 farmers have so far committed suicide during this year. With this, the total number of farmers, who committed suicide since 1998, went to 887.
The tearful tales of suffering of farmers do not seem to have moved the powers-that-be. While the YSRCP leaders visiting the families of the farmers in distress and helping them, the Congress leaders are staging protests to highlight the sufferings of the farmers. The activists of the Left parties have taken to streets to hit the nail on the head. But the ruling party leaders have so far failed to pay attention to sufferings of farmers whose eyes are filled with tears of anguish.
By: Y Santosh Reddy
