SC on farmer policies: Move from paper to implementation

The Supreme Court on Thursday expressed deep concern over the farmers' suicides in India and said that now time has come to move from paper to the implementation of the pro-farmer policies.

However, the apex court admitted that the Union Government was doing good work but suicide cases of farmers are increasing day by day.

The court was hearing the appeal, filed by NGO 'Citizens Resource and Action and Initiative' on issues related to farmers in Gujarat.

The apex court said that the government has come up with good schemes for farmers including crop insurance and PMKSY (Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana), but these need to be implemented properly.

"We want to move from paper to implementation,'' the court observed.

The Supreme Court, however, agreed to the Centre's view that "the issue of farmer suicide can't be dealt effectively overnight".

The Centre sought a year's time for showing effective results of its various schemes, including crop insurance.

The bench advised the Centre to take views of senior advocate Colin Gonsalves in formulating measures to deal with the issue of farmer suicide and fixed the PIL for hearing after six months.

While hearing the PIL in January, the Supreme Court had expanded the scope of the PIL from Gujarat to pan India and batted for the comprehensive national policy to protect farmers.