Farmer suicides: NHRC issues notices to states

NEW DELHI: The National Human Rights Commission has issued notice to Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and Kerala in the wake of news reports alleging cases of farmer suicides in these states.

"The respective chief secretaries of these states have been issued notices and asked to reply within six weeks," a NHRC statement said Tuesday.

According to the media reports, 680 farmers committed suicide in six districts of Maharashtra in 2011 and 90 farmers took the extreme step in six districts of Andhra Pradesh in October-November 2011.

Wayanad district in Kerala has witnessed eight cases of farmer suicides in November this year.

The Commission has observed that the contents of the media report, if true, raise a serious issue of violation of human rights of the poor farmers in these three states.