Noisy scenes in Kerala Assembly over farmer suicides; Congress-led UDF stages walkout over demand for loan waiver

The Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) on Monday created a ruckus in the Kerala Assembly over farmer suicides and urged the Pinarayi Vijayan government to waive agricultural loans on the lines of the Congress-ruled states of Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh.
The CPM-Left Democratic Front (LDF) government said they were working out a plan to waive farm loans up to Rs 2 lakh through the Kerala State Farmers' Debt Relief Commission, but the Opposition staged a walkout over the government's reluctance to discuss the farmers' plight on the floor of the House.
Before the walkout, the ruling and Opposition members also locked horns over the number of farmers who ended their lives due to debt and crop loss in the recent period. When Agriculture Minister VS Sunil Kumar said a total of 15 farmers — 10 in Idukki and five in Wayanad — had committed suicide after the LDF government came to power in May 2016, Opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala argued that 18 farmers ended their lives in the last one and half years.

More videos

See All