Farmers ' suicides in karnataka - Reasons and responses - A case study of Hassan District

This paper explores causes behind the pathetic situation of farmers in Hassan district linked with increase in the number of farmer's suicides around this district since 1990 and focuses on the possible precautionary measures for preventing them. Government of Karnataka is being criticized for its anti farmer policy a nd poor management initiatives in attending agrarian crisis farmer's issues. The bereaved families are paid a little compensation & the issues dies a natural death in course of time as even the community forgets the farmer and causes for his tragic death. But India, being a country of villages where farmers are considered as the back bone of a country are suffering from low productivity, change in climatic conditions, change crop pattern leading to failing monsoons and low productivity. This is a agricultural tragedy & globalization has worsened their situation. Theconversion of arable tracts of land to Special Economic Zones (SEZs), the poor policy interventions for agriculture, the lacuna in agricultural marketing sector, poor sustainable agricultural measures, increasing rural funding are cited as hindrances to agricultural policy lapses. But there are several serious issues which are leading to the total failure of agricultural sector in Karnataka. Even though government has formulated a variety of problems to uplift the sector towards sustainability there is a need to speed up support to this sector because the farmer's life is in jeopardy.