Punjab sees lowest farm suicides in decade, says NCRB report

Bathinda: Punjab for the first time recorded less than 100 farm suicides in over a decade in 2024 in line with the decline across the country, according to a report by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) under accidental deaths and suicides in India in 2024.The national figures dropped from 10,786 in 2023 to 10,546, while Punjab's 90 farm suicides (84 by farmers and six agricultural labourers) were much lower than 174 in 2023, 204 in 2022 and 270 in 2021, according to the report released on Wednesday. But farmer organisations are sceptical. Farmer organisation BKU (Ekta-Dakaunda) president Manjit Singh Dhaner called the figures highly underreported, citing a 2000-2015 survey by three Punjab universities which fixed the average of farm suicides in the state at over 1,000 a year. "Punjab Agricultural University, Punjabi University and Guru Nanak Dev University's survey recorded 16,606 suicides in 15 years. Facts and figures reported by NCRB are underreported," said Dhaner. Farmers argued the NCRB's methodology lacks clarity, saying it has not recorded specific reasons and causes behind farm suicides in seven years. "Often, the cause of death is recorded something unrelated to agriculture. If a postmortem is not conducted, no FIR is registered. Thus, suicide does not figure in the records of NCRB," Dhaner said. Haryana, on the other hand, reported 105 farm suicides (104 agricultural labourers and one farmer/cultivator) Farm suicides in Punjab Year | Farmers | Labourers | Total 2015 | 100 | 24 | 124 2016 | 232 | 48 | 280 2017 | 243 | 48 | 291 2018 | 229 | 94 | 323 2019 | 239 | 63 | 302 2020 | 174 | 83 | 257 2021 | 171 | 99 | 270 2022 | 157 | 47 | 204 2023 | 141 | 33 | 174 2024 | 84 | 6 | 90 Farm suicides in India Year | Farmers | Cultivators | Labourers 2019 | 10,281 | 5,957 | 4,324 2020 | 10,677 | 5,579 | 5,098 2021 | 10,881 | 5,318 | 5,563 2022 | 11,290 | 5,207 | 6,083 2023 | 10,786 | 4,690 | 6,096 2024 | 10,546 | 4,633 | 5,913 602 poisoning deaths A total of 602 farmers died due to accidental intake of insecticides/pesticides in Punjab in 2024, according to the NCRB reports. Haryana reported 586 such deaths and Himachal Pradesh 146. Nationally, such accidental deaths totalled 7,821. MSID:: 130890036 413 |
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