Responding to agitated members in the Lok Sabha during question hour, Minister of State for Agriculture Sompal said that the two banks have also been asked to waive off loans advanced to weaker sections wherever necessary. He admitted that the flow of credit to farmers had not been good, forcing the farmers to take loan from money lenders who charged exorbitant rates of interest.

Intervening twice, Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee said the very fact that a large number of farmers committed suicide was a matter of grave concern and urged Opposition members to rise above party lines and cooperate in finding a solution to this problem. He added that the Centre had sent several teams to look into the matter and reports had been submitted. Most of the deaths weredue to farmers' inability to repay loans, he said, adding that excessive use of pesticides had also damaged the crops.

Vajpayee said that it was unfortunate that in a country whose economy was predominantly agriculture, farmers had been forced to end their lives. Such a situation should not continue, he added.

Sompal refuted charges that norms for providing calamity relief fund to farmers were not uniform and said these were based on the Tenth Finance Commission's recommendations, which had been endorsed by the National Development Council. Prithviraj Chauhan said 400 farmers had ended their lives in various parts of the country and these were not localised deaths as the affected areas included Punjab, Haryana, Karnataka, Maharasthra and Andhra.