Farmers' suicide not solution to problem: Haryana Speaker

CHANDIGARH: Close on the heels of a Haryana minister terming the farmers committing suicide due to crop failure as "cowards", state Assembly speaker Kanwar Pal Gurjar today said suicides are "not the solution" and "remain a crime as per law".

"No person should commit suicide as our Constitution does not allow it. Suicide is not a solution to any problem and we should struggle to overcome our problems," Gurjar told reporters here.

Without specifying that if he backed Haryana Agriculture minister O P Dhankar's controversial comments on farmers' suicide, the Speaker said, "Committing suicide is not right and it can have dangerous consequences too. Because the one who commits suicide gets rids of the problems he faces, but leaves a huge problem behind for the family. Therefore, I had criticised suicide (in general) and said that a person should keep making effort".

However, Gurjar evaded a direct reply on the issue of providing compensation to the farmers whose crops were destroyed in recent rain and hailstorm which lashed many parts of Haryana.