Third farmer suicide in 24 hours, this time in Bharatpur village

JAIPUR: In another suicide by a Rajasthan farmer, third in 24 hours, 35-year-old Titu Jat ended life by hanging himself at his house in Bharatpur's Kumher area on Thursday.
Titu had gone to his agriculture farm for husking wheat crop. He reportedly went into depression when he saw a meagre production.
He went to his room without having dinner and when he did not open the door till late Thursday morning, the family members forced open it and found him hanging.Titu belonged to Satur village in Kumher area, some 180 km from Jaipur.
Gajendra Singh's last rights being performed in Dausa district on Thursday.
The villagers told TOI that he was the lone breadwinner for his family.
Titu was the lone breadwinner for his family, which included his mother, wife and two minor children aged eight and four years.
On Wednesday, 45-year-old Harsu Jatav of Katori Wala Tibara village in Alwar district had thrown himself before a hurtling train as he had failed to clear his debts. Gajendra Singh, 40, whose suicide during the AAP rally in Delhi on Wednesday rocked the country was from Dausa.
Titu owned nearly 1.36-hectare land on the village's outskirts. Bharatpur collector Ravi Jain said the local administration had assessed the damage to his crops in the recently conducted girdawari exercise.
"As per our report, Titu had used 1.14 hectares for wheat production, of which crops on 0.58 hectare were damaged. We had released a compensation of Rs 6,900. The amount was due to be deposited in his bank account in a couple of days," said Jain.
However, Titu's brother Vinod Jat said that almost the entire crop was damaged. "After husking, my brother realised that only 300 kg of wheat was produced. Ideally, there should have been a production of about 6,000 kg wheat, but the crop was severely damaged in the rain and hailstorm. My brother had used more than 200 kg seeds in sowing the crop. Besides, there have been huge expenses on labour and other works in harvesting and husking the crop," said Vinod.
He added that the compensation of Rs 6,900 was nothing compared to the losses. "My brother was in debt, so after husking the crop on Wednesday night, he went into depression," said Vinod.
District collector Jain said that about Rs 8 crore in compensation has been distributed to nearly 35,000 farmers in Bharatpur's five tehsils so far.
Congress MLA from Deeg-Kumher Vishvendra Singh, however, said that the suicide has exposed how farmers in the state are suffering and how the government has turned a blind eye to their plight. Singh had rushed to Titu's house on hearing the news of suicide.
"His family members including two children were completely depended on Titu. I don't know how they will survive. The least the government can do for them is that he should be compensated properly and a family member should be provided a government job," said Singh.
SHO of Udyog Nagar, Bharatpur, Lakhan Khatana said that whether Titu committed suicide due to crop damage is under investigation. "We talked to the family members and they have said that he was depressed due to crop loss," said the officer.