Supreme Court slams Tamil Nadu government for indifference to farmers hit by drought

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Thursday slammed the Tamil Nadu government for its indifference to the plight of drought hit farmers committing suicide, and asked the state not to sit in silence but to come to their aid and rescue before things worsen. The state stands on the position of a “loco parentis” to citizens and when there are so many deaths of farmers, it becomes obligatory to express concern and act to help them, the court observed.

The state was under an obligation not to allow “impecunious and poverty-stricken farmers to resign to their fate or leave the downtrodden and the poor to yield to the idea of fatalism”, the apex court said “The concept is alien in the welfare state and the social justice which is required to be translated in a democratic body polity… deaths are due to famine backdrop and other natural causes and also due to immense financial problems,” a bench, headed by Justice Dipak Misra, said.

“The state, as the guardian, is required to see how to solve these problems or to meet the problems by taking curative measures treating it as a natural disaster. Silence is not the answer,” the court said, appointing an amicus curiae to deal with the issue.

A public interest litigation ( PIL) was filed in the Tamil Nadu High Court by the Tamil Nadu Centre for Public Interest Litigation drawing the court’s attention to the problem of farmers’ suicides in the state amid a drought in the rural belt. An appeal later came to the top court after the High Court refused to intervene.