Kannur: A 71-year-old cancer survivor and farmer -- who had to move out of his 2.20 acres of land on the fringes of the forest because of frequent wild elephant raids -- ended his life on Wednesday, November 15.
The deceased has been identified as Naduvath Subramanian (71) of Mudikkayam in Kannur's Ayyankunnu hill panchayat.
Four days before, on November 11, K G Prasad (55), a paddy farmer from Alappuzha's Thakazhy, died by suicide blaming the state government for not closing the loan he took against the paddy he sold to the Department of Food and Civil Supplies.
Subramanian too has left a note he intended to give to Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and his cabinet minister when they toured his Peravoor Assembly constituency as part of the Nava Kerala Sadas on November 22. The farmer wanted the government to lift the hurdle and assign him a house under the LIFE Mission Kerala Housing Scheme, said his daughter Soumya. The government had earlier rejected his application for the house because he owned 2.20 acres.
For the past two years and a half, he has been living in penury and forced to shift to multiple rented houses, said Bijoy Plathottathil, CPM leader and panchayat member of Palathumkadavu ward. "He was a fine farmer. He had pepper vines, plantains, cashew trees, coconut trees, and rubber, and used to earn around Rs 1 lakh. He fell into poverty after he had given up his farmland," he said. He leased his land for which got only Rs 6,000 last year, said Plathottathil.
Subramanian is survived by his wife Kanakkamma, in her late 60s, and two children. "He was upset that he had to give up his land and did not have his own house," said the daughter Soumya.
Ayyankunnu grama panchayat shares 45km of its borders with forest, said Congress leader and panchayat president Kuriachan Paimpallikunnel. Subramanian's fate is shared by many farmers in seven wards -- Kacherikadavu (Ward 1), Palathumkadavu (2), Randamkadavu (3), Vaniyappara (4), Angadikadavu (6), Enthumkary (8), and Edapuzha (ward 8).
"Monkeys and wild boars destroy crops in these areas. Two months ago, a tiger was also spotted in Subramanian's ward Palathumkadavu. The herds of elephants are the biggest menace," said the panchayat president. Earlier, the elephants raided fields near the forest but now they destroy crops downhill, too, said Paimpallikunnel.
Many farmers had moved out of their land, said Elsamma Joseph, an independent member of Randamkadavu ward. "The Forest Department bought the land of four families near the forest in my ward. Four other families are waiting for the department to buy their land," she said.
The panchayat president said Subramanian's land was a bit far from the forest and the department was not inclined to compensate him.
When Subramanian was fighting off the wild animals, he was diagnosed with lung cancer around 11 years ago. "He survived it and was declared free of cancer a few years ago. But the disease left him burdened with debt," he said.
His financial situation worsened when he and his wife Kanakkamma were forced to leave their house and land two years and a half ago. "Neighbours found the couple a rented house," said panchayat member Plathottathil.
His senior citizen's pension and the wage Kanakkamma got working under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MNREGS) were the only sources of income. "But the couple had to change several houses and Subramanian was upset over it, too," he said.
