Farmers’ Suicide Row: Truth Or A Diabolical Design

During the recent monsoon session of Lok Sabha assembly, minister of agriculture Radha Mohan Singh had informed the house about 11,400 farmers, who had committed suicide in 2016. Post that, entire nation had started talking about the farmers’ suicide once again.

In a previous report named farmers’ fatality fiasco, BW Businessworld had discussed the issue in detail and gave few eye opening data also. One such data had revealed that it was the year 2010 when the suicide toll was highest ever (more than 15,964 farmers committed suicide). Even in the recent past till National Crime Record Bureau’s (NCRB) data validates itself, average of 12,000 farmers have been committing suicide on an average from four years.

It is also evident that many of the states had taken desperate or near desperate measures to avoid any such suicide. Therefore willingness of states to stop farmers’ suicide cannot be questioned completely. Issues like involvement of forest ministry for the permission of cutting a tree. Permissions of authorities to allow sale of agricultural land and unavailability of right information to invest in crops may be the three biggest factors to provoke a farmer for committing suicide.

A day before Radha Mohan Singh was answering his fellow member of parliaments, centre for environment and agriculture along with Tata strategic management group, Assocham and crop care federation of India had released an outlook during a summit in New Delhi. This outlook had information where it asks for a specific consideration to the issue of farmers’ suicide. As it is a matter to differentiate between, whether people who committed suicide were actually the farmers’?

India witnesses less than 10 per cent of total suicide on the name of farmers. If we collect the unpublished information by NCRB which Radha Mohan Singh had shared with parliament, the suicide toll had come considerably down from the previous record year of 2015 where it was 12,603 it came down to 11,400 in 2016. It is huge downfall as far as numbers suggest (fall of more than 1200 numbers). It can be termed as a diabolic design to show the poor status of Indian agriculture across the world, when India is taking big leaps in agriculture sector.

Number of non-agricultural professionals and housewives who committed suicide was 90 per cent of total suicides in 2015’s record. The measures like providing moong pulse in less than three rupee to common man (Haryana government’s recent decision) in Haryana. Selling onions through public distribution system in Madhya Pradesh and purchasing pulses from farmers by Maharashtra government, indicates that procured material from the farmers, has put such state governments to a difficult test of their skills.

The world witnesses more than eight lakh suicides per year where Japan is undoubted world leader with as many as 60 per cent of higher average than entire global ratio, it is merely a coincidence that Japan has nothing in the name of agriculture. (World Health Organisation)

(With inputs from CEA, TSMG & CCFI outlook for doubling farmers’ income)