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found it strange that there was no national policy to compensate tillers for
crop failure or indebtedness, two major reasons for them to take their lives.
A bench of Chief Justice J S Khehar and Justice
N V Ramana was dealing with a three-year-old appeal filed by an NGO led by
Mallika Sarabhai questioning the rationale behind Gujarat high court's decision
not to entertain its PIL seeking relief for farmers, nearly 600 of whom had committed
suicide between 2004-2012.
The Centre informed the court that the NDA
government had launched a comprehensive crop insurance scheme under Pradhan
Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY), which assured a certain sum of money for crop
failure because of localised incidents and post-harvest losses.