As the financial assistance from the state government remains elusive for several families of the farmers, who had committed suicide, Telangana Jagruthi, headed by Nizamabad MP K Kavitha, has decided to adopt such families by providing the necessary support.
The initiative is premised on encouraging sportspersons, film stars, corporates and other prominent persons to adopt the distraught families. According to Kavitha, Telangana Jagruthi has already adopted 80 families. Announcing the launch of the programme at a press conference here on Sunday, Kavitha informed that a committee would work out an action plan for the same in two weeks to start the initiative from November 1. Tennis star Sania Mirza, badminton player Jwala Gutta and cricketer Pragyan Ojha have already extended their support to the cause.
“Notwithstanding the support of the government, we as a civil society wants to extend moral support to the farming community which is in distress. Everybody should be concerned about what’s happening in our rural areas,” Kavitha said.
She further added that several filmstars, including Bollywood, had contacted her expressing their willingness to support distressed families in the state. She said Telangana Jagruthi wing from London, Bahrain and USA have already donated for the cause.
Elaborating about the initiative Kavitha said: “We will spell out the approach in another two weeks. To start with initially, we are planning to provide some amount of money every month to such families. However, we need to work it out.”
Meanwhile, Jwala Gutta and Pragyan Ojha gave Rs 1 lakh cheques to the initiative. As Sania Mirza was in China for a tournament, her mother Nasima Mirza gave Rs 3 lakh cheque to Kavitha.
Jwala Gutta said she was moved by the spate of suicides of farmers in the state. “Somehow, in this fast-moving world we have failed to understand the importance of farmers in our society. But it is high time we extend our support to them in times of distress. Otherwise, it would hit us very badly in times to come.”
Explaining why he had chipped in with his support for initiative, Pragyan Ojha said: “I come from an agriculture family. I have heard enough from my grandparents about what goes into raising a crop. I am deeply saddened by the increasing suicides. I readily agreed to be part of this.” Admitting that there is ‘discrepancy’ in the number of farmers who had committed suicides due to crop failure, she held past regimes responsible for the present agrarian crisis. However, she claimed that of the 242 such cases, the state government had paid ex gratia to 171 farmers.
Source: The New Indian Express