From Kashmir to Kanyakumari, from Tripura to Maharashtra,

he said the Indian farmer is facing acute adversity and farmers from South India are reeling under severe drought this year.

He said a large group of farmers from Tamil Nadu are protesting here at Jantar Mantar displaying skulls and bones of their brethren farmers who have committed suicide.

Quoting NCRB figures on farmer suicides, Punia said, Maharashtra (4,291), Karnataka (1,569), Telangana (1,400), Madhya Pradesh (1,290), Chhattisgarh (954), Andhra Pradesh (916) and Tamil Nadu (606) reported the maximum number of farmers' suicides during 2015, which accounted for 87.5 per cent of suicides in the country.

He said for the first time in decades, that farm suicides in the North East have also risen four times in just a year.

"We had never heard of farm suicide deaths from the North East, but according to NCRB data, northeast has seen more than four-fold jump in farmers' suicides from 21 in 2014 to 95 cases last year," he said.

On the question that UP Chief Minister has banned red beacons on cars for VIPs, Punia said the new Congress government in Punjab was the first one to take a decision to do away with red and blue beacons.

"It is a good decision and I think rest of the country must follow it," he said.

(This article has not been edited by DNA's editorial team and is auto-generated from an agency feed.)