Adivasi farmer suicides belie Maharashtra agriculture minister claim

YAVATMAL: Twenty-one-year-old Vaishali Ghodam has less than a week to go for her wedding, but she has no wedding sari. All she has are freshly-printed wedding cards. Crushed under the burden of farm loans, Vaishali's father, Ramesh, killed himself just days after her engagement in February.
Their village, Joginkawada, is in Yavatmal district of Vidarbha, which reports the highest farmer suicides in the country.
Ramesh Ghodam was an adivasi and his case contradicts state agriculture minister Eknath Khadse's Friday statement that adivasis rarely commit suicide. Then, a short distance away, there is another adivasi suicide.
In January, Madhukar Pendore from Runza village killed himself after running up debts of Rs 3.5 lakh.
Comparing the suicide belts of Vidarbha and Marathwada with the Konkan, where barely any farmer suicides are reported, Khadse had said: "How is it that adivasis do not commit suicide? Hardly 5-10 in a year is the rate. It's because adivasis' morale is strong. They know how to struggle in life."
Yavatmal has a sizeable tribal population, which means a large number of cotton farmers who have committed suicide here are adivasis, say activists like Kishor Tiwari of the Vidarbha Janandolan Samiti.
"A large section of Yavatmal is tribal and this district is at the epicentre of the farm suicides," Tiwari said. "Does he mean that non-adivasi farmers who are committing suicide are weak?"
Both Ghodam and Pendore took the drastic step after three years of suffering losses. This year, two successive failed crops after the drought and unseasonal rain pushed them over the edge, said their families.
Ghodam's widow, Janabai, said the family was saddled with a debt of Rs 1.20 lakh. Their farm yield came down from 16 quintals of cotton to just 4 quintals this year because of the drought.
"He worried constantly about repaying loans and raising money for Vaishali's wedding," Janabai said.
Across Vidarbha, families have called off weddings as the farm crisis deepens. "I wanted to call off the wedding but we have already printed the cards," Janabai said.
Vaishali is marrying her own cousin, so the family has agreed to forego dowry and meet the wedding costs. "But I don't even have the money to dress her up and hire a vehicle to take a wedding party to their village," Janabai said.
The economics of farming no longer adds up, said Pendore's widow, Sunita.
"We spent Rs 2 lakh on the cotton crop but the yield was so low we got only Rs 50,000 for our produce this year," she said. "Since we haven't repaid bank loans, we can't get new loans to buy seeds for the next crop season."
The first casualty now will be her daughters' education. Seventeen-year-old Rachna is studying electronics at a local polytechnic, while 13-year-old Meenakshi is in Class VIII. The family was spending at least Rs 50,000 on each daughter's education.
"It's my greatest regret," she said. "My daughters won't be able to complete their education."