AGRI-RESCUERS
India Suicide Rate Among Indian Farmers Soar As They Struggle To Make Ends Meet
- "More than a quarter of a million farmers have killed themselves in the last 16 years in what is the largest recorded wave of suicides in history"
"Indian Farmers Suicides
1 Every 30 minutes"
"Most of the suicides have been linked to poverty, debt, a sharp rise in costs and the failure of crops because of pest attacks"
"In one small village I visited, 18 farmers had committed suicide after being sucked into GM debts. In some cases, women have taken over farms from their dead husbands - only to kill themselves as well"
Few cases among the large numbers of cases..
* 2 farmers commited suicide in VIDARBHA
Akola (Maharashtra): Two farmers, said to be facing crop failure and reeling under debt, have allegedly committed suicide in Vidarbha region of Maharashtra, police sources said on Tuesday.
Nandkishor Garje, a resident of Rohinkhed village in adjoining Buldana district, swallowed poison on Monday afternoon, they said.
The 49-year-old took the extreme step just three days ahead of his daughter's marriage on March 1.
Another farmer, Kailas Satrote (30), a resident of Lodegaon village in neighbouring Washim district, also consumed poison on Monday, the sources said.
Cases of accidental deaths have been registered and further investigation was on, they added. Both agriculturists committed suicide reportedly due to constant crop failure and increasing loan burden.
*MP Govt admits 8000 farmers' suicides in past five years
Bhopal: Presenting a grim piece of statistics, Madhya Pradesh government on Tuesday admitted in the assembly that a total of 8,298 farmers committed suicide between 2004 and 2009 in the state.
In a written reply to Congress MLA Arif Aqueel's question, Home Minister Umashanker Gupta informed the state Assembly that 8,298 farmers committed suicide in this period.
The year-wise figures of farmers' suicides, as provided by the minister, are: 1638 in 2004, 1248 in 2005, 1375 in 2006, 1263 in 2007, 1379 in 2008 and 1395 in 2009.
The home minister said that four farmers committed suicide in Balaghat, Damoh, Sagar and Chhindwara districts since July 2010. The reply does not have comprehensive figure for the year 2010.
Reasons behind these suicides have not been analysed yet, Gupta said.
"After the independence, according to Gandhiji's vision of Gram-Swaraj, villages and specially farmers were to be the main focus of any development plan of India. As years passed, by agriculture as an industry lost its importance for policy makers of India. This over the time caused severe distress among the farmers leading to recent dramatic rise in the number of suicides among farmer community. Every day in national newspaper invariably there is news related to farmers' suicides"
"In other words, farm suicides are rising through the period of India's agrarian crisis, even as the number of farmers is shrinking"
“Rates of growth of agriculture in the last decade have been poor and are a major cause of rural distress. Farming is increasingly becoming an unviable activity.”
