The Siddaramaiah-led Congress government in Karnataka waived off Rs 8165 crore worth of farmer loans taken from cooperative banks in the last week of June.
The decision that had claimed to help as many as 2,227,506 farmers, meant that each farmer would get a waiver of Rs 50,000, for their loans taken till June 20.
However, nearly a month after the state government's announcement, farmers across the state continued to take their lives allegedly over debt, reports The Times of India.
While the government's declaration came at a time when the state is gearing up for assembly elections next year, it does not seem to have curtailed the number of farmer suicides.
Chethan Kumar for TOI reports that there have been 90 cases of farmer suicides in the month of July, just days after the farmer loan waiver was announced.
While the number of farmer suicides from April to June stood at 207, the month of July saw 90 more deaths added to it, taking the total number of farmer suicides in this financial year to 297.
According to the report, from April to June, the average number of farmer deaths was two cases per day. However in July, the average number of deaths rose to three per day.
In this, at least 50% of the deaths were reported from the Cauvery basin. According to the report:
"The number of farmer suicides in Mandya was eight as of June 30, and the number jumped to 29 by July 31. Similarly, the number in Mysuru increased from 11 to 25, and in Hassan, from seven to 19. Bagalkot and Belagavi added six each, totalling 12 and 22 cases, respectively."
Going by the report, so far the government has released compensation to 64 farmers and out of 297 deaths upto July 31, the government has declared that 19 were not caused due to agrarian distress.