Farmer suicides: India
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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
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
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
See graphic: Debt and farmers' suicides: 2013.
2013, 14: Change in definitions
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
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.“
2015
2014-15, a rise of 42%
Priyanka Kakodkar, Farmer suicides up 42% between 2014 & 2015, Jan 6, 2017: The Times of India
5,650 Cultivators Ended Their Lives In 2014; 8,007 In 2015. Maha In Top Spot With 3,030 Deaths
Farmer suicides in the country rose by 42% between 2014 and 2015, according to newly released data from the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB). It recorded 5,650 suicides by farmers and cultivators in 2014. The figure rose to 8,007 in the latest data.
Several states across the country battled severe drought in both 2014 and 2015. Some, including Maharashtra, experienced two successive years of drought.
With 3,030 cases, Maharashtra recorded the highest number of farmer suicides in the country (37.8%). Telangana was second, with 1,358 cases, and Karnataka third with 1,197. Six states of Maharashtra, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Karnataka accounted for 94.1% of total farmer suicides.
In fact, farmer suicides shot up even though as many as nine states and seven Union territories recorded no case at all in the NCRB figures. The states which reported nil farmer suicides in 2015 include Bihar, West Bengal, Goa, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Jharkhand, Mizoram, Nagaland and Uttarakhand.
“Highly erratic and inadequate monsoon in the last two-three years has aggravated problems for persons engaged in the farming sector.Manifestations of these in extreme situations can be seen in the form of farmers' suicides,“ the report said.
While the data showed a sharp rise in suicides by farmers, it also recorded a steep 31.5% decline in suicides by agricultural labourers in the country during the same period. This category was introduced by the NCRB in 2014, a move which was criticised as an attempt to reduce the number recorded as “farmer sui cides“. The suicides by agricultural labourers declined from 6,710 cases in 2014 to 4,595 in 2015.
Maharashtra recorded the highest number of suicides in the category of agricultural labourers as well, accounting for 1,261 cases. Madhya Pradesh followed next with 709 suicides and then Tamil Nadu with 604 cases. The overall number of suicides in the farming sector in the country recorded a marginal 2% increase. The number of suicides by those in the farming sector rose from 12,360 in 2014 to 12,602 in 2015, accor ding to the data. The figures have risen only marginally, given the major decline recorded in the number of suicides of agricultural labourers.
“Bankruptcy and indebtedness“ emerged as the single largest underlying cause behind farmer suicides in 2015 with 38.7% of the 8,007 farmer suicides linked to these factors. Farming-related issues formed the second major cause, accounting for 19.5% of the cases. The data also showed that as many as 72.6% of the farmers who committed suicide in 2015 were small and marginal farmers who owned less than two hectares of land.
“Farmer suicides tend to be higher in states like Maharashtra which cultivate cash crops. These require high investments and are also high risk,“ said farm activist Vijay Jawandhia. States like Bihar where farmers migrate during the lean season are also better able to cope with farm distress, he said.
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.
Variations among states
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
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
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.
2017
Marathwada, Jan, Feb: 117 suicides
Notwithstanding claims by CM Devendra Fadnavis that the agrarian crisis was being tackled on a war footing, 117 farmers ended their lives in the droughtprone Marathwada region of Maharashtra in the first two months of the year.
Despite heavy rain and a spurt in farm productivity , the scourge of suicides continues to spread. The highest number of suicides was in Beed (23), hometown of rural minister Pankaja Munde, followed by Nanded (22), Osmanabad (19), Aurangabad (18), Jalna (14), Parbhani and Hingoli (8 each) and Latur (5). Of the 117 cases, financial aid was provided to 46 families of the deceased. But 13 were denied relief and 58 proposals are still being processed.
Head of a state-level task force on farmer welfare, Kishore Tiwari, said while the government had taken various measures, the results were not visible. “We'll have to redraft our strategy to halt farmer suicides,“ Tiwari said. “We will have to provide remunerative prices for agriculture produce, along with market intervention. A plan needs to be worked out to pro vide education to farmers' children and financial assistance for healthcare.“
In 2016, production of tur, tomato, onion and most vegetables doubled and even tripled but farm gate prices dipped. Onion was sold for Rs 460 per quintal as against the production cost of Rs 950. Tur farmers were paid less than the minimum support price (MSP) in wholesale markets.The MSP for tur was Rs 5,050 and traders were purchasing it at Rs 4200-4400 per quintal.
However, a comparison with figures for the previous year show a marginal decline in toll. According to data, 3,052 farmers ended their lives in 2016, of which 1,053 cases were from Aurangabad, which falls in Marathwada re gion. The 117 cases recorded in 2017, if seen against the average bi-monthly rate for the previous year, indicates a slight downturn. Incidentally , the same trend is visible for 2015 and 2016. Against a total of 3,052 farmers who killed themselves in 2016, the toll was higher at 3,228 in 2015, which was a drought year.
Leader of opposition Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil said over the last two and half years, 9,000 farmers have killed themselves. “We demand that Fadnavis declare a total loan waiver to protect the lives of farmers.“ Patil led an opposition delegation on Monday which called on Governor Vidyasagar Rao to press for their demand.
