A 45-year-old farmer allegedly committed himself by jumping into a pond in the Pune district on Sunday after leaving a suicide note wishing Prime Minister Narendra Modi a happy birthday and expressed his anger at not receiving the MSP for onions and requested Prime Minister Narendra Modi to assure fixed prices for onions and other commodities. The deceased has been identified as Dashrath Lakshman Kedari, from the Wadgaon Anand village.
In his suicide note, Kedari further criticised the Maharastra Government and the Centre for failing to pay attention to the situation of farmers. He brought up the state of farmers in light of their losses brought on by the coronavirus pandemic and excessive rain, reported Indian Express.
Farmer Suicides (2011-2021)
In India, farmer suicides have long been a contentious topic in discussions about the state of the India’s agricultural industry. Out of 10,881 people who worked in agriculture (consisting of 5,318 farmers and cultivators and 5,563 agricultural labourers) in 2021, 5,563 farm labourers committed suicide, according to the National Crime Records Bureau's most recent statistics (NCRB)- making up 6.6% of all suicide victims in the nation (1,64,033).
From 2020 to 2019, there was a 9% increase in suicides, and a 29% increase from 2019. Out of 5,563 suicides committed by agricultural labourers during 2021 - 5,121 were male and 442 were female. Maharashtra had the greatest rate of suicide deaths among those employed in agriculture (37.3%), followed by Karnataka (19.9%), Andhra Pradesh (9.8%), Madhya Pradesh (6.2%), and Tamil Nadu (5.5 %).
Maharashtra reported 1,424 suicides, followed by Karnataka (999) and Andhra Pradesh (584). Maharashtra's Marathwada and Vidarbha regions have unusually high rates of farmer suicides. Wardha, Akola, Buldhana, Yavatmal, Amravati, and Akola. Since January of this year, there have been an average of around 20 suicides every month in the Yavatmal district. It was 18 in July and immediately increased to 43 in August, reported Times of India.
The NCRB report states that 5,763 farmers or cultivators killed themselves in 2018, and 5,957 did so in 2019. According to the data, 5,579 farmers or cultivators died by suicide in 2020. A total of 135,585 people died by suicide in 2011, of whom 14,027 were farmers.
In India, fewer farmers committed suicide in 2012 compared to the year before. 13,754 (11.2%) farmer suicides were reported in 2012, a decline. 11,772 farmers committed suicide in 2013, down from 13,754 the year before, but the numbers were still high in Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, and Karnataka, reported Economic Times.
As per NCRB data a total of 8,007 farmers have committed suicides during 2015 - an increase from 5,650 in 2014. According to the data, however, 11,379 farmers committed suicide in 2016; this number fell to 10,655 in 2017, 10,349 in 2018, and 10,281 in 2019.
Reasons for Farmer Suicides
Over 50% of the population of the agrarian nation of India depends on agriculture for a living. Millions of largely small-scale farmers have been pressed by declining prices for their crops and rising transportation and storage expenses, reported DW. There are several theories as to why farmers in India commit suicide, including floods, droughts, debt, the usage of genetically modified seeds, public health, and the use of less pesticides because of smaller investments leading to poorer yields. There is no consensus.
As per research by Dr Yasmeen for Indian Journal of Economics and Development - “the main reason of farmers ’suicides can be attributed to both natural and manmade factors. While natural factors like uneven rains, hailstorm, drought and floods adversely affect crop yield, the man made factors, i.e. pricing policies and inadequate marketing facilities result in post-yield losses. Consequences of rural indebtedness are disastrous.”
Farmer groups argue that the government determines market rates and that the government is failing to meet the Minimum Support Price (MSP) - which is the price the government is required to buy that product back from farmers if the market price falls below it.
The "Spate of Cases of Suicide by Farmers" report, which covers all of India, underlines how government relief efforts are ineffective since they don't address the situation of farmers who take out loans from private moneylenders. Farmers constantly lose money, regardless of how favourable the environment is. Due to the persistence of this situation and the failure of the state and central governments to implement appropriate measures to safeguard and assist farmers in overcoming these obstacles.
The majority of them became bankrupt, and the pressure of their huge debt repayment and other family obligations drives them to suicide.
