CCSAP Report - Ministry of Home Affairs

7.8 Agrarian distress and suicides, region-wise
A long term contributory factor to the sense of economic deprivation has been
agrarian or rural distress which has led to suicides in the state. Due to drought,
failure of new varieties of cotton and loss of livelihood among weavers, between
May 2004 and November 2005, Telangana reported 663 suicides while
Rayalaseema reported 231 and coastal Andhra stood at 174 out of a total of
1068 reported suicides. Based on analysis of one district from each region,
Prakasam from coastal Andhra, Medak from Telangana and Ananthapur from
Rayalaseema, coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema showed greater number of
suicides among the forward castes while Telangana showed a distribution across
Forward, OBC and SC castes. 13 The causes of farmer suicides have to do with
drought, higher investments in agriculture, failure of new crops such as Bt cotton
leading to indebtedness with social repercussions. Difficulties in wresting a
livelihood from agriculture, especially in the dry areas of Telangana and
Rayalaseema, have contributed to a general sense of dissatisfaction which, in
Telangana, is a contributory, if not a direct factor in the present movement.
7.9 Socio-cultural groups and their views on the Telangana
agitation 14
As mandated by the Terms of Reference, this section examines the impact of
recent events on different stake holders. It provides a sense of the heterogeneity
of location and viewpoints of various socio-cultural groups and their attitude
towards and role in the demand for separate statehood by Telangana region.
7.9.01 Views of Scheduled Castes
AP occupies the fourth position in terms of SC population among 32 states/UTs
with SC population. As seen in Table 7.1, the state has a homogenous regional
13 Various reports on farmer suicides
14 Although difficult, one may attempt to differentiate between a „movement‟ and an „agitation‟. The
former could be termed as an attempt by non-institutionalized/institutionalized groups to change parts of the
system; an agitation could be termed as a movement seeking more radical change and employing
„agitational‟ methods which may be violent or non-violent.
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