farmer suicides

The Supreme Court has sought responses from the Centre and states on a PIL demanding a higher Minimum Support Price (MSP) for farmers to cover production costs and prevent suicides. Petitioners argue that current MSPs are insufficient, citing the M S Swaminathan Commission's recommendations and the impact of free ration schemes on agricultural markets.

A 29-year-old farm labourer in Trichy died by suicide after his beloved goat succumbed to illness. The man, V Balraj, had raised the animal as a pet for six months. Despite family counselling, he became inconsolable and was found hanging near the village bus stop.

A 25-year-old farmer in Jagtial died by suicide due to mounting debts and crop failures. Tragically, his mother suffered a fatal heart attack while awaiting his body at the morgue. The family is devastated by the double tragedy.

In Maharashtra's drought-prone districts, women widowed by farmer suicides are defying societal norms and patriarchal structures. They are fighting for ancestral land, pursuing education for themselves and their daughters, and organizing to gain financial independence, forcing change against immense odds.

In a major relief to the state government — which has spent most of its first year warding off daily political dangers — the number of farmer suicides in Karnataka has dipped by 45% for year ending March 31, even as one farmer killed himself every 12 hours on average.

farmer suicides in Karnataka have come down by 33% over a three-year period, starting 2020 and until mid-February 2023, latest government data show.

Maharashtra has recorded 808 farmer suicides in the state in the first four months of the year. This averages almost seven farmer suicides every single day. The figure is lower by 88, compared to the same four-month period last year, when there were 896 farmer suicides.

The cotton growing district of Yavatmal has seen 43 farmer suicides in the month of August. This means at least one farmer committed suicide each day during the entire month. Yavatmal has been infamous for farmers’ suicides and agrarian crisis since two decades.

farmer suicides in Maharashtra have risen for the first time in four years. The state recorded 2,808 cases in 2019, as per revenue department data, higher by 47 than in 2018. The rise is significant because since 2015, farmer suicides have been falling in the state: From 3,228 in 2015, to 3,052 in 2016, to 2,917 in 2017, when the previous BJP-led government declared a loan waiver. The number declined by over 150 the next year, to rest at 2,761.

AICC vice-president Rahul Gandhi is said to have sought a report from KPCC president G Parameshwara on the high incidence of farmers suicides reported in the last three months from Karnataka.

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.

From the data on farmer suicides released by the relief and rehabilitation department, it may be argued that the loan waiver scheme declared by chief minister Devendra Fadnavis on June 24 last year is yielding results as the state witnessed fewer suicides compared to the previous year.

Between 2017 and 2019, farmers’ suicides in Telangana have decreased the most in the country. From 846 farmers dying by suicide in 2017 to 900 taking their lives in 2018, the number fell to 491 in 2019, the Centre said in reply to a query on farm sector in Lok Sabha on Tuesday.