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Farmers' suicides

No let-up in suicides by farmers

Deeptiman.Tiwary @timesgroup.com New Delhi:

[The Times of India] Aug 03 2014

A look at government data since 1995 to 2012 shows that no party has succeeded in putting a stop to this scourge.

In fact, in its previous stint in power the NDA fared worse than the Congres. It saw a 31% increase in farmer suicides compared to the previous regime. Under UPA's next five years the figure marginally increased by 2%.

Among states, Maharashtra has the worst record for farmer suicides. During 1995-1999, BJP-Shiv Sena regime saw 10,000 farmers end their lives. From 1,083 farm er suicides in 1995, the re gime witnessed 2,409 farmer taking their lives in 1998.

The following Congres regime was worse. Between 1999 and 2003, over 16,000 farmers committed suicide in the state. In the next nine years of Congrss-NCP rule in Maharashtra, 33,702 farmers ended their life.

In Madhya Pradesh, BJP's second showcase state after Gujarat, the situation has been no better. During the Congres regime of 19982003 under Digvijaya Singh, over 13,000 farmers committed suicide. Since then over 22,000 farmers have ended their lives in MP under the BJP regime.

In Andhra Pradesh, both TDP and Congres, which have ruled the state during the period, sail in the same boat. During TDP's regime of 1995-2003, over 16,000 farmers committed suicide. In the following 10-year regime of the Congres's YS Rajasekhara Reddy and others this figure increased to over 21,000.

In Karnataka, between 1995 and 1999 under Janata Dal government, over 10,000 farmers committed suicide. This increased to 12,000 in the next regime under Congres. Between 2004 and 2012, under two years of Congres and rest of BJP rule, over 18,000 farmers ended their lives.

Farmer suicides on rise: IB report

Some facts: Farmer suicides in India

The Times of India Dec 23 2014

Bharti Jain There has been an upward trend in cases of farmer suicides in Maharashtra, Telangana, Karnataka and Punjab recently, besides reporting of instances in Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh and Tamil Nadu, said an Intelligence Bureau note submitted to the Modi government. The December 19 report, marked to national security adviser Ajit Kumar Doval, principal secretary to the PM, Nripendra Mishra, and agriculture ministry among others, has put the blame on the erratic monsoon (at the onset stage) this year, outstanding loans, rising debt, low crop yield, poor procurement rate of crops and successive crop failure. It also linked the agriculturists' woes to a depleted water table, unsuitable macroeconomic policies with respect to taxes, non-farm loans and faulty prices of import and export.

According to the IB, “While natural factors like uneven rains, hailstorm, drought and floods adversely affect crop yield, manmade factors like pricing policies and inadequate marketing facilities result in post-yield losses“.

The report `Spate of Cases of Suicide by Farmers' emphasized how government relief packages are of limited use as they do not address the plight of those who borrow from private money-lenders.“The money lenders continue to offer loans at interest rates of 24-50%, while income-generating potential of the land has remained low and subject to weather conditions,“ the IB pointed out.

It observed that though loan waivers and relief packages may mitigate farmers' distress in the short run, “the problem requires a comprehensive solution that addresses crop yield, availability of farm inputs and loan, assured irrigation, cold storage and marketing facilities and fair pricing policies“.

Causes of suicides

Causes of farmer suicides, NCRB: 2014

The Times of India, Jul 25 2015

Percentage share of various causes of suicides during 2014; Graphic courtesy: The Times of India, Jul 25 2015

Causes of farmer suicides; Graphic courtesy: The Times of India, July 25, 2015

Sushmi Dey

Illness made 18% give up life: NCRB

Bad health 2nd top cause for suicides

Farmer deaths may hog the headlines, but the latest National Crime Record Bureau (NCRB) data feature health issues or illness as the second largest cause of suicides in the country after family problems. According to NCRB data for 2014, various kinds of illness accounted for 18% of suicides during 2014, whereas bank ruptcy or indebtedness-considered a major reason behind farmer deaths -accounted or only 1.8% of suicides.

Experts say there is an urgent need for the government to increase spend on public health, develop a robust health policy to make tertiary healthcare services affordable as well as increase awareness and preventive care measures. On the contrary , policy interventions are mostly focused and limited to addressing farmers' debts due to its political importance.

“There is a need for public health policy along with resources to expand public healthcare,“ says Amit Sengupta, co-convenor of Jan Swasthya Abhiyan, a public health advocacy movement.Sengupta points at the lack of awareness around chronic diseases, mental illnesses as well as absence of public healthcare facilities to ad dress the disease burden.

States like Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra, where the rate of farmer suicides is high at almost 30%, also account for a significant number of suicid es due to health problems.While only 5% of all suicides in these states are due to debt or bankruptcy , illness accounted for 26.2% and 21.5% of in AP and Maharashtra respectively .

Experts say suicides are not just directly linked to one's own illness. Poor health also means a lot of financial pressure for the family . “While the out-ofpocket expenditure is high, often it leads to depression and mental illness resulting in suicide,“ says Nandini Sharma, a visiting homoeopath to the President's Estate. Mental illness was a major cause for suicides contributing to 7,104 deaths during 2014.

“Informal tenancy“ major cause; Stable tenancy will curb suicides

The Times of India, Jan 23 2016

Dipak Dash

Secys to PM: Stable tenancy law will curb farm suicides  Identifying “informal tenancy“ as one of the main reasons behind farmer suicides since many don't get farm credit and crop insurance, a group of secretaries has suggested the government to come out with a model tenancy law. Such a law will protect the tenants as they will get access to low-interest loans from banks and financing agencies. It will also end the fear of original owners of losing the farmland to tenants. Sources said the panel of top bureaucrats set up by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, while pointing out how informal leasing is up to 40% in some states with around 10% land lying unutilised, said there is an urgent need to legalise all such leases.

The group dealing with issues on “farmer-centric issues in agriculture and allied sectors“ has also suggested the need to excavate five lakh ponds and dug-wells across the country annually under the rural jobs scheme and to creatie dedicated fund by raising tax free bonds to irrigate farmland.

Highlighting that only 42% small and marginal farmers have access to credit, it has suggested providing fresh credit of Rs 50,000 crore. These are among the suggestions that the panel has suggested to revive the rural economy ahead of the Union Budget next month. Sources said the team has presented that NABARD would require Rs 29,000 crore for about 46 projects relating to irrigation. Similarly , government needs to spend Rs 8,000 crore annually to dig ponds and dug-wells under MGNREGS.

Women farmers' suicides

The Times of India, May 17 2015

Priyanka Kakodkar

How women farmers die `off the records'

Most Suicides Filed As Dowry Deaths, Mishaps

For the last 23 years, Rukhmabai Rathod had run her six-acre farm virtually single-handedly . After her husband's death in 1992, the uneducated but determined woman took charge. She decided what to sow, how much to spend and stood her ground with banks and creditors. “She was anguthachaap but she understood everything,“ says her brother-in-law Babulal Rathod from Kazadeshwar village in Vidarbha's Akola district. “I didn't think she would manage but she proved everyone wrong,“ he admits. The Banjara tribal woman even got her three children married without help from anyone. However, in March, Rukhmabai's courage ran out.Saddled with debts worth Rs 3 lakh, she swallowed pesticide and died at home.

The cotton belt of Vidarbha reports the highest farmer suicides in the country , but the distress of women cultivators is rarely recorded. “Suicides by women farmers are less common but not that unusual. But they don't get recorded because women are often landless or the land is not in their name,“ says activist Kishor Tiwari of the Vidarbha Jan Andolan Samiti.

As many as 16.46 lakh rural households in Maharashtra are headed by women, according to the Census 2011.This accounts for 12.5% of rural households. In fact, the rise in suicides among male farmers in the state has led to their widows bearing the burden of running both the home and the farm.

Yet only 126 suicides by women farmers in Maharashtra were recorded by the National Crime Records Bureau in 2013, compared to 3,020 by male farmers. “In most cases, suicides by women farmers are classified as dowry deaths or accidents,“ says Tiwari.

Rukhmabai is among the few women cultivators here whose death has been classified as a “farmer's suicide“, perhaps because her farm was in her name. Her family is eligible for state compensation.

“I don't remember a time when my mother was not working,“ says Rukhmabai's son Nagorao. In fact, in all farming families, it is women who do the bulk of the jobs like sowing and weeding.

For the past several years, Rukhmabai's family had been growing soyabean. But rising costs and declining yields in the last three years pushed them deep into debt. Then Nagorao had a near-fatal accident last year that burdened them with an additional Rs 1 lakh loan for his surgery.

“We used to take loans earlier too, but we always had some income. This year we barely made any money because of the drought,“ says Nagorao. Over time, the family sold its bullocks and then its goats as well. By the end, Rukhmabai knew she would have to borrow again.“She had borrowed from her relatives and could not face them. She had run out of options,“ said her daughter-inlaw Sarla Rathod.

In neighbouring Yavatmal, another woman farmer lives on the edge. Five years ago, Sangita Pancheniwar from Hivra ran a four-acre farm with her husband. But he committed suicide in 2010, leaving her to fend for his aging parents and two school-going kids.After two crops failed in the drought, she tried renting out the farm but found no takers.She now works as a farm hand a few days a week. “I get work maybe twice a week for Rs 100 per day ,“ she says.

With a loan of Rs 1 lakh still to be paid off, she fears for her children's education. “We're reduced to eating bhakri and chutney . How can I afford to keep them in school,“ she asks.

2013

Debt and farmers' suicides: 2013; Graphic courtesy: The Times of India, March 14, 2016

2013, 14: Change in definitions

The Times of India, Jul 20 2015

Farmer suicides, year-wise: 2009-13 and some information; Graphic courtesy: The Times of India, Jul 20 2015

Deeptiman Tiwary

Farmer suicides actually up if old methodology is used

The government could have patted itself on the back after National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) data shows that farmer suicides had dropped by 50% in 2014 compared to 2013. However, a study of the data shows that farmer suicides -if counted on the basis of victims' profession as was the case earlier -have actually increased in 2014. This could be particularly embarrassing for both the Centre and state governments as since 2009, farmer suicides have consistently decreased. From over 17,000 in 2009, the figure dropped to over 11,000 in 2013. In 2014, however, this figure -using the same methodology -would stand at over 12,000.

So how did NCRB reach a figure of 5,650 farmer suicides in 2014, registering a decline of over 50%? There is no fudging though. Earlier, the definition of a farmer included land owner, those tilling land on lease and agricultural labour. This year, the government chose to take farm labour out of the ambit of farmer suicide. This took 6,710 labourers who committed suicide last year out of the farmer suicide count.

To be fair, this is the first time that the government got specific data collected on farmer suicides. Earlier, suicides were recorded under various `profession' heads and this included farming. This exercise never collected any data on reasons for such suicide. In 2014, such data was sought from states and compiled to assess whether agrarian crisis led to farmer suicides -which has often been used as a direct reflection of farm distress.

According to the latest data, actual farmer suicides due to agrarian crisis (including crop failure and indebtedness) stood at merely 2,281.This would be less than 20% of the total suicides committed by farmers and labourers and less than 50% of total farmer suicides last year.

It must be noted here that states have often been accused of not collecting data properly.For example, unless a farmer mentions crop loss or debt in his suicide note as the reason for suicide, the administration does not record it as suicide related to farm distress. It was in this context that Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadnavis recently announced that all farmer suicides would be considered as due to farm distress and compensation released. The new data, however, has many positives as it shows that those tilling land on lease are less likely to commit suicide compared to the actual land owner. Of 5,650 farmers who committed suicide in 2014, 4,949 were land owners. Only 701 were tilling land on lease.

2014

The Times of India, Jul 18, 2015

Over 5,500 farmers committed suicide in 2014

A total of 5,650 farmers committed suicide in 2014, with the maximum deaths being reported from Maharashtra, Telangana and Chhattisgarh, official data has revealed.

According to the "Accidental Deaths and Suicides in India 2014" report released by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) on Friday evening, of the 5,650 farmers' suicides, 5,178 were men and 472 were women.

"The highest incidents of 2,568 farmers' suicides were in Maharashtra (45.5 per cent), followed by 898 suicides in Telangana (15.9 per cent) and 826 in Madhya Pradesh (14.6 per cent)," the data revealed.

"Telangana reported the maximum cases of female farmer suicides at 31.1 per cent followed closely by Madhya Pradesh (29.2 per cent), and Maharashtra (14.1 per cent)," it added.

Bankruptcy or indebtedness and family problems were major causes behind the suicides, accounting for 20.6 per cent and 20.1 per cent of the deaths respectively.

Other causes included crop failure (16.8 per cent) and illness (13.2 per cent). The report revealed that 65.75 per cent of the farmers who committed suicide were in the age group of 30 to 60 years, while 59 were below 18 years of age. Even though 15 people took their lives every hour in 2014, the overall suicide figures witnessed a drop from 1,34,799 in 2013 to 1,31,666 in 2014, the NCRB said. Maharashtra reported the maximum suicides (16,307), followed closely by Tamil Nadu (16,122) and West Bengal (14,310).

In addition, Bhopal reported a significant increase in the number of suicides - from 384 in 2013 to 1064 in 2014, an increase of 177 per cent, while suicides declined by 78.7 per cent in Kanpur - from 648 in 2013 to 138 in 2014.

2014-15: suicides increase in Maharashtra

The Times of India

Mar 22 2015

Priyanka Kakodkar

40% increase in farmer suicides in Maharashtra

He pinned all hopes on his tiny field of jowar.Sandeep Shinde nurtured it after a drought had singed his cotton crop last year. But days before the new crop was due for harvest last week, rain pelted down hard. The jowar stalks collapsed into the mud and the grain turned black. A few hours later, the 27-year-old farmer hung himself with a nylon rope from a tree in his field in Patoda taluka. Shinde is not the only one to take his own life. Farmer suicides in Maharashtra have shot up by over 40% in the last seven months compared to the same span last year. A total of 975 suicides by farmers between January to July 2014 was reported. The figure rose to 1,373 between August 2014 and February 2015. Shinde had not managed a decent crop in the last three years in this arid belt, running up debts of 1.2 lakh. The drought and bouts of rain wrecked his chances of breaking even. “He was worried about his loans and talked of migrating,“ says family friend Rajabhau Deshmukh. Shinde's widow Shobha is anxious about her four-year-old son and oneyear-old daughter. “I cannot even afford milk for the children,“ she says.

In a state where farmer suicides have become endemic, the widespread drought followed by freak rains and hailstorms have pushed many more over the edge. In many cases, the calamities claimed two successive crops.

The region of Marathwada, which was among those worst hit by the drought, has seen the sharpest increase in suicides by farmers during the same period. The suicides here have risen by 85%. Every single village in the region was declared drought-affected.

Even large land-holders are committing suicide in Georai, which is part of Aurangabad's Beed district and is located close to the Jayakwadi dam. Gangadhar Shendge, who committed suicide two weeks ago, had an 18-acre farm. “Our entire kharif crop was ruined. We did not sow the rabi crop at all,“ says his son Mahadev Shendge. Across the state, sowing for the rabi winter crop was down by 40%.

January-May 2015: 7 farm suicides a day in Maharashtra

The Times of India, Jun 11 2015

Priyanka Kakodkar

Farmer suicides in Maharashtra are intensifying with as many as 1,088 cases reported in 2015 by the end of May. This is almost twice the figure reported just two months ago. Between January and March, the state government had reported 601 cases. The suicide rate had already begun climbing steeply with the onset of the drought in 2014 which destroyed large swathes of crops. Unseasonal rain and hailstorms made the crisis worse.

Significantly, less than half the farmer suicides reported have been declared “eligible suicides“ by the government. Only 545 of the 1,088 cases were deemed to fit this category , which qualifies for government compensation.

To be considered an “eligible suicide“, the land has to be in the victim's name and there should be physical evidence of indebtedness. The government claims only these suicides are linked to agrarian distress.

Critics say this is an attempt to keep the numbers down. Even the number of eligible suicides has more than doubled from 241 to 545 cases between March and May .

The data was sourced from the revenue department's divisional headquarters and has yet to be compiled by the state. Critics say these figures are an underestimation compared to data from the National Crime Records Bureau.

The cotton belt of Vidarbha -from where CM Devendra Fadnavis hails -reported the highest suicides in the state. It accounted for as many as 564 of the 1,088 cases. That's a 76% rise from the 319 cases in Vidarbha reported till March.Marathwada reported the second highest number with 367 cases, a rise of 70% from the 215 reported by March end.

State revenue minister Eknath Khadse said, “We are doing the best we can. This is an issue which has been going on for many years and cannot be fixed overnight.“

Maharashtra: cities get more farm loans

The Times of India

Apr 08 2015

`Maha cities corner more farm loans than villages'

Priyanka Kakodkar

At the RBI's 80th anniversary recently , Prime Minister Narendra Modi had invoked farmers' suicides to urge banks to lend more to cultivators. “When a farmer dies, does it shake the conscience of the banking sector? He faces death because he has taken loans from a moneylender,“ Mr Modi said. Credit to the farm sector has in fact risen across the country over the last decade.Yet, in Maharashtra, which reports the highest farmer's suicides in the country , the bulk of farm loans ironically do not go to farmers, says a new study based on RBI data.

Although the majority of farmers live in rural areas, a larger portion of agricultural loans are supplied by urban and metropolitan branches of scheduled commercial banks, the study says.

Urban and metropolitan branches of these banks ac branches of these banks accounted for nearly 44% of agricultural credit, the study said. By contrast, rural branches supplied almost 30%. The study by economists R Ramakumar and Pallavi Chavan is based on data from the RBI's report “Basic Statistical Returns of Sched uled Commercial Banks in India“ for 2013.

So loans to farmers are not driving the rise in agricultural credit. Instead the major beneficiaries in the revival of farm credit in this decade are agri-businesses and corporates involved in agriculture, the authors say .

This is because the definition of agricultural credit has expanded to include these businesses. “The definition includes loans to corporate and agri-business institutions as well as storage equipment in cities. It includes loans for commercial and export-oriented agriculture,“ says Ramakumar, an economist with the Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai.

The growth in agricultural credit has also been fuelled by a rise in indirect loans, the study says.Direct loans are given to farmers while indirect loans are given to institutions indirectly involved in agricultural production. The share of credit to small and marginal farmers has dropped dramatically across the country , the study shows. Instead, loans of Rs 1 crore and above are driving the revival of agricultural credit, the study says.

2015

Marathwada suicides: January-August

The Times of India, Sep 06 2015

Priyanka Kakodkar

Marathwada farmer suicides cross '14 tally

2015 figure already at 628; 105 just in August

As many as 628 farmer suicides have been reported so far in 2015 in the Marathwada region which has experienced the most deficient rainfall in the entire country. The figure is already higher than the 574 cases recorded here by the revenue department in the entire year of 2014 and three times higher than the cases recorded just two years ago.

In fact, Marathwada reported a steep 105 farmer suicides in the single month of August with the meagre rains destroying large swathes of crops. Faced with growing agrarian unrest, CM Devendra Fadnavis was on a threeday tour of the region, where he came up against farmers' protests in Parbhani. Both Congress and NCP have demanded loan waivers for the region, with the latter threat ening a jail bharo andolan.On Saturday , NCP chief Sharad Pawar said law and order would become a serious issue in the state if the Fadnavis regime failed to change its policies to handle the drought situation. While Vidarbha reports the highest farmer suicides in the state, cases have been spiralling up in the arid zone of Marathwada. This is the fourth successive year of distress in the region. While it faced a drought in 2012 and 2014, in 2013 it bore the brunt of hailstorms which destroyed crops.

So far this monsoon, Ma rathwada has recorded a 53% rain deficit. Water sources are drying up with dam levels down to 8% of capacity . Five of its 11 large dams are at dead storage level. The kharif crop has faced extensive damage.

Four of its 8 districts -Beed, Latur, Osmanabad and Parbhani -are worst affected by the drought. The highest farmer suicide toll of 177 has been reported in Beed. Osmanabad has recorded 98 cases, Latur 61 and Parbhani 41.

The gravity of the situation also forced Fadnavis to prune a delegation for his five-day Japan tour slated to begin from September 8 from 69 to 8 after cabinet colleagues and high-ranking bureaucrats raised eyebrows over the trip in the midst of the drought crisis.

The political class and agrarian crisis

India Today

Average monthly farm income and average monthly consumption expenditure, Graphic courtesy: India Today

May 11, 2015

Ravish Tiwari

The political class has read the agrarian crisis wrong. It's about time rhetoric met reality

Gajendra Singh : In his death, Gajendra Singh gave the political class much to outrage over. And outrage they expressed, but mostly over the wrong reasons. The middle-aged man from a farming family in Rajasthan's Dausa district hanged himself at a farmers' rally organised by Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal at Jantar Mantar on April 22, 2015. Almost immediately, the televised suicide was taken over by the opposition parties to rail against the Narendra Modi government's land acquisition ordinance, equating Singh's death, and those of other farmers, with the law.

There's very little, however, to suggest any connection between land acquisition and either the rising level of agrarian crisis or the overall number of farmers who took their own lives. And those numbers have in fact declined in the last 10 years until 2013, says the National Crime Records Bureau. But in their attempt to score brownie points, the politicians seemed to be barking up the wrong tree. Discussions in both houses of Parliament focused mostly on easy solutions to the crises, virtually ignoring deeper structural issues that need political solutions.

Not that agrarian crisis is a non-issue. Far from it. The 2011 Census estimates 168 million of India's total 247 million households are in rural areas. The "Situation Assessment Survey of Agricultural Households", conducted during the 70th round of the National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) held in 2013, says only 90.2 million of those 168 million rural households are engaged in agriculturally productive operations. But that's not the problem. The assessment survey suggests that farmers involved in farming operations on land up to 2 hectares (ha)-the small or marginal farmers-cannot meet even their average monthly consumption expenditure from only incomes generated from farming (cultivation and animal husbandry). It says as many as 78.1 million of the 90.2 million farming households (86.6 per cent) do not earn enough from farming to meet their expenses. And that is where the problem lies.

Fragmented ownership

A NABARD paper released in February 2015 suggested that the average size of operational landholdings has reduced by half in the last 40 years-from 2.28 ha in 1970-71 to 1.16 ha in 2010-11. As a result, the number of landholdings in the marginal and small categories have swelled by 56 million and 11 million, respectively. NABARD's assessment of unviability of smaller farms, in a way, has been validated by NSSO survey results made public in December 2014, which say only farms more than 2 ha are yielding more income than farmers' consumption expenditure.

The solution then lies in arresting this fragmentation and consolidation of farms-a task the political class needs to take up forthwith. "The answer lies in farmers getting together to collectivise farmlands; not Soviet collectivisation but taking the shape of producer companies. (It requires a) limited form of cooperation where a farmer does not give his land away but cooperates for input purchases and selling of the produce," says noted agricultural economist Y.K. Alagh.

Ramesh Chand, director, National Centre for Agricultural Economics and Policy Research (NCAP), suggests a regulatory framework to facilitate legal leasing of farmland to ensure security and stability for farmers. India's land lease laws are based on conditions dating back to Independence, which makes many farmers unwilling to lease out land. "Or those who want to take farms on lease don't get it," Chand says. "Farmers prefer to keep land fallow rather than lease them out; they fear they would lose control."

For the political class, the challenge lies in fragmentation of landholdings that are getting unviable. Agriculture administrators recommend proliferation of oral or informal leasing/renting of farmland to advocate a legal framework to protect landowners and facilitate consolidation of landholdings.

Race for insurance

If this was the winter of discontent for farmers in most parts of north India, the spring arrived with little hope. The unseasonal rain and hailstorm in patches ravaged standing crops on nearly 189 lakh ha of about 606 lakh ha of rabi acreage. The twin demands that arose as a result were of central relief by state governments and relaxation of procurement norms by farmers to ensure their spoilt crop is assured of a market.

As expected, the political rhetoric has hit the high notes: in Parliament, ruling NDA MPs were keen to highlight the Centre's call to relax relief disbursement norms, while the Opposition panned the government for its failure to release more funds to states promptly. Lost in this politicking was the fine difference between relief and compensation. Lesson for politicians: the Centre provides relief if crops fail, but the need of the hour is to insure them.

Farmers are hardly out of the woods once the yield comes out good and is harvested. The next part of the harrowing journey only begins then. And one merely needs to follow the Gangetic plain eastward to hear complaints of farmers in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and West Bengal about their produce remaining unsold, or being sold below the minimum support price (MSP).

"Farm holdings are so fragmented in eastern India that farmers find little merit in incurring transportation cost to procurement centres. This allows aggregators, traders to purchase the produce at the farm gate instead of the mandi (wholesale), and that is usually below the MSP," says Ashish Bahuguna, former agriculture secretary.

While the political leadership of Punjab and Haryana, the original Green Revolution states, have institutionalised their procurement networks, political leaders elsewhere, especially in the Gangetic plain, need to learn a lesson from Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh Chief Ministers Shivraj Singh Chouhan and Raman Singh respectively. The two CMs have given a sustained push to a sound procurement network for wheat (MP) and paddy (Chhattisgarh) farmers, and thereby good price for their crops.

Not unlike the politicians, the prevailing laws also do not help much. Both the Agricultural Produce Market Committee Acts and the Essential Commodities Act have patronised traditional and entrenched traders and have not allowed modern trading, and need to be amended. Political leaders need to mull over how to modernise domestic trade to facilitate modern capital infusion to create logistics and storage facilities.

Fight for inputs

The entire political class may take pride in India's agricultural tradition, but most farmers still continue to struggle for basic inputs such as seeds, fertiliser pesticide, irrigation, power and credit. There was a large-scale disruption in fertiliser supply only last year, raising the political heat in several parts. "Inputs such as seed and fertiliser need to be available on time. Fertiliser requirements for kharif crops should be tied up at the end of the previous rabi crop," points out Gurbachan Singh, for-mer federal agriculture commissioner and now chairman of the Agricultural Scientists Recruitment Board.

"The political class should be alive to the demand forecast rather than react to a crisis generated by (their) misgovernance. Political pressure should ensure proactive coordination between placing orders, ensuring movement (of fertiliser) and timely distribution," says Ajay Vir Jakhar, chairman, Bharat Krishak Samaj.

The political class also needs to learn from state governments such as Shivraj Singh Chouhan's to expand irrigation coverage to reach the benefits to farmers. Similarly, for power supply for irrigation and other operations they need to look at Rajasthan, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Haryana, Punjab, Karnataka, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh, which have demonstrated efficacy of separate agricultural feeders for farmers.

As for agriculture credit, though it has jumped to more than Rs 8 lakh crore, Ramesh Chand underlines the wide inequality in institutional credit between states.

There's a lot to be learnt for politicians to address the varied crises farmers face. As India looks at a year of below-normal monsoon, it's important that they show outrage over deaths such as that of Gajendra Singh's. But that fury has to be for the right reason for it to have any lasting effect.

Political parties unaccountable to farmers

The Times of India

Apr 27 2015

Dhananjay Mahapatra

Parties must rise above politics over farmer deaths

We have been told that agriculture is the mainstay of the Indian economy . Monsoon gives life to agriculture. The agricultural workforce reinforces India's granaries and ensures its food security . If agriculture occupies a pivotal role, why have governments in 65 years not been able to improve the plight of the farm workforce? At the same time, land owners have flourished. They own huge tracts of land, which helps them acquire money , muscle and political influence. In contrast, farmers have remained on the fringes. Over the years, ruling parties have tom-tommed policy decisions to sanction easy farm loans and later, write them off. Who benefits ­ the land owners or the farmers? To take a loan, a farmer has to show that he has land. A small percentage of farmers own land. So, loans are cornered by land owners. When loans are written off, its double benefit for them.

Most land owners give their land for farming on contract basis. The usual contract is the farmer will till the land, sow the seeds, water the crop and look after it. At harvest time, the land owner will take either onethird or half the crop. To buy seeds, fertilizer and other farm requirements, the farmer needs money . He takes loan, not from banks but village money-lenders at hefty rate of interest. Given the inadequate irrigation system, most farmers feel the heat in a bad monsoon year. Failed crop means loan defaults. Spiraling interest soon overtakes the principal, due to which the trapped farmers seek release by embracing death.

A farmer's death at the AAP rally at Jantar Mantar showed us yet again the eagerness of parties to score brownie points, unmindful of the fact that our policies have failed to ensure a better life for those who take care of our food and fill our granaries.

All parties behaved as if this death exemplified the present situation of farmers.Irrespective of the party in government in various states, thousands of farmers have ended their lives over the years to escape the debt trap. The party which sold dreams to hitch a ride to power says it is not even a year-old and blames the previous party which was in power. But no one has given a concrete policy framework providing farmers an honourable release from the debt trap.

The farmers' plight was explained vividly by the Supreme Court in its December 14, 2010 judgment in Maha rashtra vs Sarangdhar Singh Shivda Singh Chavan case. It was about the illegal money lending (at the rate of 10% interest a month) racket in Maharashtra. The petitioners said, “Nearly 300 farmers have committed suicide in Vidarbha as victims of such illegal money lending business and the torture perpetrated by the recovery of such money . A complaint has been made that the farmers do not get the benefit of various packages announced by the government and the state machinery is ruthless against farmers.“

The collector of Buldhana, on instructions of the then Congress CM, had ordered non-registration of police case against a money lender, Gukulchand Sananda, and his family , despite 50 complaints against them.The SC had sought explanation from the ex-CM, who in 2010 was Union minister for heavy industries. The exCM didn't deny the charge of his office asking the collector not to register a case against the Sananda family .

The SC quoted National Crime Records Bureau data to say that nearly 2 lakh farmers committed suicide in India between 1997 and 2008. Two-thirds of the 2 lakh suicides took place in five states ­ Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, MP and Chhattisgarh. The SC drew a pathetic contrast, saying, “Even though Maharashtra is one of the richest states in the country and 25,000 of India's one lakh millionaires reside in its capital Mumbai, the Vidarbha region is today the worst place in the whole country for farmers. The position is so pathetic in Vidarbha region that families are holding funerals and weddings at the same time and some times on the same day .“

In the verdict's concluding paragraph, the SC had said, “This court is extremely anguished to see that such an instruction could come from the chief minister of a state which is governed under a Constitution which resolves to constitute India into a socialist, secular, democratic republic. CM's instructions are so incongruous and anachronistic, being in defiance of all logic and reason, that our conscience is deeply disturbed.We condemn the same in no uncertain terms.“

Such serious judicial condemnation did not cast any shadow on the politician's career. He merrily continued in the UPA cabinet. None ­ he himself, his party or the prime minister -suffered any moral pang.

Variations among states

The Times of India

Farmer deaths, state-wise: 2004-2013; Graphic courtesy: The Times of India

Apr 24 2015

Gajendra was from Raj, but Maha, AP farmers worst-hit

While Rajasthan native Gajendra Singh's suicide in Delhi has led to a political slug fest, National Crime Records Bureau figures show that the state lags far behind Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh in the number of farmers suicides recorded. Out of the total of 11,772 farmers who ended their lives in India in 2013, 292 were from Rajasthan, putting the state at tenth place when it comes to farmer suicides. Maharashtra, with 3,146 farmer suicides in 2013, has had alarming figures for the past 15 years, followed by 2,104 in Andhra Pradesh, 1,403 in Karnataka and 1,090 in Madhya Pradesh. The four states almost account for two-thirds of farmers' suicides in the country. Only Chhattisgarh and Bengal have managed to record zero suicides in the same year.

More than one lakh suicides are recorded every year in the country . In 2013 alone in India, there were 1,34,799 suicides out of which 8.7% were that of farmers. Rajasthan had overall 4,860 suicides in the year out of which 292 were that of farmers including 25 of women.

The pattern shows that farmers who committed suicide in 2013 are from all age groups including those in teens. Twenty-two suicides were in the age group of 0-14, 2,805 farmers who committed suicide are in the age group of 15-29, 4,274 in the group of 30-44 years, 3,307 in age-group of 45-59 and 1,364 farmers were in the age-group of 60 and above.

Political parties have not paid much heed for so many years on the issue. In fact, both NDA and UPA regimes have had an abysmal record when it comes to farmer suicides since 1995.

While NCRB doesn't give any reason for the deaths, such suicides are often linked to crop damage or failure, debt, lack of irrigation provisions, low productivity , unfavourable prices, distress sales and rising costs of cultivation.

Punjab suicides, 2000-16

Subodh Varma, The story of the missing farmers, Jan 30, 2017: The Times of India  

A small village called Khanauri in Punjab's Sangrur district has be come a macabre hotspot. People come here to peer down at the Bhakra Main Line canal hoping to catch sight of dead bodies that get held up on the sluice gates. They are not ghouls ­ they are looking for kin or friends who have disappeared. The canal runs unhindered like an arrow for 159 km through Punjab's eastern districts and Khanauri barrage is the first point where the flowing water is slowed down. In the past few years, most of the bodies that turned up at Khanauri were of farmers who had committed suicide, mainly because of debt and economic crisis.

In Punjab as a whole, estimates of farmers' suicides range from a few thousand to tens of thousands. A study by three universities estimated that between 2000 and 2011, nearly 7,000 farmers committed suicide, most of them because of debt.

A new study for 2011-15 by the same three universities, is in the final stages of data processing. Balwinder Singh Tiwana, professor of economics at Punjabi University , Patiala and one of those involved in the survey told TOI that 3,000 to 4,000 farmers committed suicide in this most recent period.

Farmers' suicides are but one chilling symptom of the crisis gripping Punjab's agriculture, once thought of as a shining path for the rest of India.Its sweep is so wide and the effects so pervasive that every political formation in Punjab's ongoing election campaign is battling to assure farmers that it has the best solutions.

So, what is the crisis? Pro duction of foodgrains, mainly wheat and rice, has been stagnating for the past several years. It has grown by just 7% in the last decade and by just 1% in the last five. There is no more land left to be brought under cultivation with 82% of the state's geographical area under cultivation and 99% of it irrigated.Almost all the area is cropped twice.The only way production can be increased is by increasing yield, that is, quantity produced per sown plant. This too, sadly , is not happening. In fact, there is a slight dip in foodgrains produced per hec tare of sown land, from 4,364kg in 2011-12 to 4,304kg in 2015-16.

On the other hand, cost of cultivation has zoomed while selling prices have not matched that rise, explains Tiwana. “Costs have gone up, reducing the farmers' income and the minimum support price has increased only by about 8% per year. For inputs, farmers have to take loans (or advances) from commission agents in mandis.If the crop gets damaged, the farmer is stuck with unrepayable loans worth lakhs. That's the crisis, and cause of suicides,“ Tiwana says.

Maharashtra

Farmer suicides which are eligible for compensation, Maharashtra, 2001-12; Graphic courtesy: The Times of India, February 20, 2016

The Times of India, Feb 20 2016

Priyanka Kakodkar

1,841 farmer suicides in Maharashtra in 2015  Highest since 2001, a 52.5% jump from number of such incidents in 2014

When confronted with soaring cases of farmer suicides, the Maharashtra go vernment has always claimed that all are not linked to agra rian distress. The only cases considered genuine and eli gible for state compensation were those involving land-ow ning farmers and clear evi dence of indebtedness. Even within this stringen parameter, which typically serves to halve the numbers Maharashtra touched a 15-ye ar peak in 2015. From January to December 2015, the state re corded as many as 1,841 cases of “eligible“ farmer suicides the revenue department said This is the highest since 2001 In fact, it is 52.5% higher than the 1,207 cases recorded by Maharashtra in 2014.

In 2015, the state faced two droughts, with a poor monsoon in 2014 and 2015. The Marathwada and Vidarbha region were the worst hit.

When asked about the rising graph, state agriculture minister Eknath Khadse said: “The cases of eligible suicides have been falling over the last few months. We will be conducting a review to see the latest position.“ He added that the government had done more than previous governments to alleviate the crisis. This includes declaring a Rs 10,500crore package for farmers and providing subsidised grain under the Food Security Act to affected families.

Of the total 3,228 farmer suicides reported in Maharashtra in 2015, almost half were from Vidarbha, which accounted for 50% of the eligible cases as well.

2016

Marathwada: 22% higher than in '15

The Times of India, May 28 2016

Priyanka Kakodkar 

Marathwada farmer suicides at 454, 22% higher than in 2015

 As many as 454 cases of farmer suicide have been reported in drought-struck Marathwada till May 2016.The figure is 22% higher than the 372 cases reported till the end of May 2015.

The region is in the grip of its fourth drought in five years, which has devastated agriculture and resulted in an acute shortage of drinking water.

The district of Beed, the home constituency of state rural development minister Pankaja Munde, continues to report the highest number of cases, with 81 farmer suicides. Nanded has reported 70 cases and Aurangabad has 67.The district of Latur has reported 61 cases of farmer suicides while Osmanabad has recorded 59 cases so far.

Water levels in the region's dams are down to just 1% compared to 8% at this time last year. As many as nine of the region's 11 dams are below dead storage level. Of these, two have run completely dry .

The region is in the grip of its fourth drought in five years, which has devastated agriculture and resulted in an acute shortage of drinking water.

The district of Beed, the home constituency of state rural development minister Pankaja Munde, continues to report the highest number of cases, with 81 farmer suicides. Nanded has reported 70 cases and Aurangabad has 67. Latur has reported 61cases of farmer suicides while Osmanabad has recorded 59 cases so far.

Water levels in the region's dams are down to just 1% compared to 8% at this time last year. As many as nine of the re gion's 11 dams are below dead storage level. Of these, two have run dry . We are expecting the water to last till the monsoon and are hoping there is good rainfall this year,“ says Marathwada's divisional commissioner Umakant Dangat.

He says that the government has made efforts to provide both water and jobs under the rural employment scheme in the drought belt. However, activists from the Right to Life Campaign say the state is neglecting the provision of social services, including health care, food security and employment.

“The Supreme Court has asked for the mid-day meal scheme to be operational even during holidays in droughtaffected districts but this has not been done even though funds have been released,“ said activist Ulka Mahajan.

Jan-March 2016: Number of farmer suicides

The Times of India, Apr 27 2016

Total number of farmer suicides in 2014-March 2016; Graphic courtesy: The Times of India, Apr 27 2016

Vishwa Mohan

116 farmer suicides in first 3 months of 2016

Days after attributing the record number of farmer suicides in 2015 to poor disbursement of credit, which left them at the mercy of usurious money lenders, the Centre shared with Parliament grim statistics highlighting how the situation remains unchanged in 2016, with as many as 116 suicides during the first three months.

Maharashtra continues to be the dark spot, recording the highest number of farmer suicides . Punjab, which recorded only three farmer sucides in 2014, was second in the list in 2015 as also so far this year (see graphic). However, MP, which has consistently been recording farmer suicides in varying numbers till 2014, managed to escape this tragic cycle. The state did not report any suici de in 2015 and during the first three months of this year. Officials credit MP's better agricultural growth, backed by creation of irrigation infrastructure in water-stressed areas, for the turnaround. Water-starved Maharashtra faces the brunt for its failure to adapt to suitable cropping patterns, particularly Marathwada.

In response to a Parliament question, the government informed the Lok Sabha that of the 2,115 farmers who committed suicide in 2014, 1,163 were driven by debt, and the remaining by crop loss.

In Maharashtra, 857 of 1,207 farmers who committed suicide did so due to debt burden, which lays bare the ir dependence on local money-lenders due to a nonfunctional farm credit system in the state and also in other parts of the country .

The figures for farmers' suicide were shared on a day Union agriculture minister Radha Mohan Singh alleged that dams were constructed in Maharashtra to serve interests of the sugar industry and not farmers. “I demand a discussion on Maharashtra drought so that facts can come to light,“ he said in Lok Sabha, blaming the previous Congress-led government in the state for the mess. His allegation triggered a war of words with the opposition blaming the Centre for not doing enough to provide relief to the drought-affected states.