Farmers Suicides In India - Indian Streams Research Journal

Research Paper - Economics
Farmers Suicides In India
Vol. 1, Issue . 1 / February 2011, pp. 113-117
- Dr. P. V. Deshmukh
Dept. of Economics,
Dr. Babasaheb Amedkar Marathwada
University, Aurangabad
Agriculture sector has a pivotal role in
Indian economy. The share of agriculture
sector in G.D.P. of India was 44.0% during
1973-74 .Agriculture provides the principal
means of livelihood for over 60 percent of
India's population. There a significant increase
in production between 1951-52 to 1959-1960
was due to favorable monsoons and
expansion of acreage not yield. In Indian
planning agriculture sector ignored except few
five years plan. Indian planning has not be
given appropriate priority to agriculture.
There are lot of limitations for protection to
agriculture in new economics policy. In
globalization era grant in aid of agriculture
were drawn and in other hand import of
agricultural products allowed without
restrictions at large amount. In the processes of
industrialization there are drastic changes in
climate , due to this agriculture productivity
suffered . Banking sector is not ready to
provide credit /loan to Agriculture for avoiding
risk .Farmers were trapped by private debt .
Maharashtra is suffering with same problem
.Maharashtra Government took some decision
tackle this problem. But unfortunately
decisions taken by Maharashtra Government
are not effective because after the legal
provision taken by Government there is no
development in farmer's life. According to
some economist and socialist Agriculture
sector is a bone of Indian Economy therefore
farmer's must have some protection but lack
of protection and favorable policies to
agriculture , lead to suicides of farmers at large
On this background, in the present paper I have
focused on the causes of farmer's suicide ,
nature of problem, consequences ,and
remedies.
Causes :
There are various economic ,social ,
political , individual and environmental causes
of farmer's suicide in India. The causes of this
crisis are complex and manifold, they are
dominantly related to public policy and
economic strategy.
Absence of adequate social support
infrastructure at the level of village.
Uncertainty of agricultural enterprise in
India.,
Indebtedness of farmers. Rising cost of
cultivation.
Lack of credit availability for small
farmers. There has been minimal financial
support from the government for small
farmers.
Lack of irrigation facilities.
Lack of Government Vision and clarity of
intention to benefit the poor and small
farmers.
Reduction of agriculture subsidies.
Environmental pollution.
Exploitation of natural resources (water,
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Farmers Suicides In India
forest)
Unfavorable international policies.
Lack of increasing in the prices of
agricultural products compare to
agricultural inputs. Indian farmers are
facing is the dramatic fall in prices of farm
produce as a result of the WTO's free trade
policies.
Monocultures and uniformity increase the
risk of crop failure , as diverse seeds
adapted to diverse to eco-system are
replaced by the rushed introduction of
uniformity and often untested seeds into
the market. When Monsanto first
introduced Bt Cotton in 2002, the farmers
lost 1 billion rupees due to crop failure.
The drinking habit which atrophies the
productivity of the farmer.
Extravagant expenditure on marriages.
Bad health and illness and inability to
meet the necessary expenditure on
medicine and health services.
Government has destroyed Important
public institutions.
Rehabilitation packages e.g. Package of
Central Government, Package of State
Government, Lone Waiver Proposal, etc
are not implementing in proper way to
relief needy farmers.
Public expenditure on rural development
fell during this period from 14.5 percent to
G.D.P. in 1991 to 5.9 percent I 2004 (P.
Sainath, The Hindu -2/2/2010
Intensity of the problem :
There were lot of studies have been done by
various social workers N.G.Os, Economist,
Institutions, journalist ( P.Sainath) ,etc. But
there are different approaches to understand the
nature ,causes and rehabilitation packages
which are announced by governments .The
states Maharashtra , Andhra Pradesh
,Karnataka Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh
are suffering from this problem especially.
According to P.Sainath , the number of farmers
who have committed suicide since 1997 to
2008 in these five state was 122823 and all
India level was 199132. Prof . Nagraj proved
that the farmers suicide rate was 12.9 between
the period 1997 to 2005 and one farmer
committed suicide every 53 minutes in India.
On the basis National Crime Records Bureau ,
it is possible that at least two lakh farmers
committed suicide in the last 12 years . Most of
experts are agree with the seriousness of
concern problem .I had tried to focus on
farmer's suicides in India with some statistics
which are published by various expert
committees and thinkers .
Trends of farmers suicides :
Vol. 1, Issue . 1 / February 2011
T.1: Farmers suicides : Big five states and India
Year Maharashtra Andhra Karnataka Madhya Total of All India
Pradesh
Pradesh & 5 states
Chhattisgarh
1997 1917 1097 1832 2390 7236 13622
1998 2409 1813 1883 2278 8333 16015
1999 2423 1974 2379 2654 9430 16082
2000 3022 1525 2630 2660 9837 16603
2001 3536 1509 2505 2824 10374 16415
2002 3695 1896 2340 2578 10509 17971
2003 3836 1800 2678 2511 10825 17164
2004 4147 2666 1963 3033 11809 18241
2005 3926 2490 1883 2660 10959 17131
2006 4453 2607 1720 2858 11638 17060
2007 4238 1797 2135 2856 11026 16632
2008 3802 2105 1737 3152 10797 16196
Total 41404 23279 25685 32454 122823 199132
Aver
age
3450.33 1940 2140 2704.5 10235.3 16594.3
Source:www.inditogether.org- Date: 3/11/2010
P. Sainath has focused with above statistics
on farmers suicide in the five big states. In the
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Farmers Suicides In India Vol. 1, Issue . 1 / February 2011
period from 1997 to 2008 average of farmers
suicide in these five state is 10235.3 per year
and all India level the average suicides of
farmers suicide is 16594.3. Maharashtra is
known by progressive and developed state but
in other side number of farmers suicide is
maximum in India because the average of
farmers suicides in Maharashtra is 3450.33
which is more than other four states due to
failure of cotton crops and increasing debt
during the period 1997-2008.
State-wise distribution of farm suicides :
All states of India are facing the
problem of farm suicides. We can get idea of
state-wise number of farmers committing
suicides with the 2001 Census.
T2 : State-wise number and rate of farmers
suicides (2001)
Sr.
No
State
Number of suicides
Among
farmers
Among all
population
% of farm
suicide to
total suicide
Suicide rate (per 100000 members)
Among Farmers
In general
population
With all
cultivator
With only
main
cultivator
1 Maharashtra 3536 14618 24.2 15.1 29.9 34.7
2 Karnataka 2505 11881 21.1 22.5 36.4 40.5
3 Andhra P 1509 10522 14.3 13.8 19.2 20.4
4 Chhattisgarh 1452 4025 36.1 19.4 33.7 41.6
5 Madhya P. 1372 6860 20.0 11.4 12.4 14.4
6 West Bengal 1246 13690 9.1 17.1 22.0 27.3
7 Kerala 1035 9572 10.8 30.1 142.9 176.5
8 Tamil Nadu 985 11290 8.7 18.1 19.3 20.8
9 Uttar P. 709 3827 18.5 202 3.0 3.7
10 Gujarat 594 4791 12.4 9.5 10.2 12.6
11 Rajasthan 505 3195 15.8 5.7 3.8 5.3
12 Orissa 256 4052 6.3 11.0 6.0 7.5
13 Assam 167 2647 6.3 9.9 4.5 6.2
14 Haryana 145 2007 7.2 9.5 4.8 6.5
15 Pondicherry 91 529 17.2 54.3 834.9 865.8
16 Bihar 88 853 10.3 0.8 0.7 0.9
17 Punjab 45 648 6.9 2.7 2.2 2.4
18 Tripura 41 854 4.8 26.7 13.1 16.2
19 Himachal P. 22 307 7.2 5.1 1.1 2.0
20 Goa 18 256 7.0 19.0 35.7 60.7
21 Jammu & 15 153 9.8 1.5 0.9 1.6
Kashmir
All India 16415 108506 15.2 10.6 12.9 15.8
C.V.(%) 116.3 93.4 - 82.3 299.0 280.6
Maximum states are facing this problem
at different level. Maharashtra is a progressive
state but unfortunately Maharashtra was a
leading state in farm suicides in 2001.The
coefficient of variation of farms suicide was
more than general suicides in India. The
farmers suicide rates were very high compare
to general suicide rate .It is noted that suicide
rate of only main cultivator was high in all
states. State-wise position of suicides in other
state in critical was Andhra Pradesh ,Karnataka
and Madhya Pradesh. According to Prof.
Nagraj on an average one farmer took his life
every 53 minutes between 1997-2005.
according to another study on an average there
has been one farmer's suicide every 32 minutes
since 2002.In India 86.5 percent of farmers
who took their own lives were financially
indebted during 1997 to 2002 (www.un.org-
21/11/2010).
Consequences :.
The government must amend laws that are
governing the farmers in the Indian agricultural
sector. If the government does not make any
urgent recommendations or legal provisions to
offer relief to the trend of farmer suicide in the
affected states, the whole country will suffer
the consequences. Some of these are given
below:
* National disaster as farmer suicides
increase every day.
* Food productivity will be hit badly.
* Food inflation will rise at an alarming rate.
* Severe food crisis.
* The intensity of unemployment problem
will be increase.
* Family problems, Social problems,
Physiological problems.
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Farmers Suicides In India Vol. 1, Issue . 1 / February 2011
Remedies:
Farmers need protection through
protective legislation as nothing is typically
done to help them settle their debts or tackle the
unprecedented price rise that leads them to
commit suicides. Mere lip sympathy by
political parties and government officials is not
enough to bridge the widening demand-supply
gap in the agricultural sector.
1. Minimum Support Price mechanism for
agricultural produce should appropriate
with consideration increase in agricultural
inputs.
2. Increase import duty on cotton: Tariff
barriers should used to discourage import
3. To integrate surface and groundwater
irrigation schemes and integrate the line
department in order that the schemes are
implemented efficiently.
4. Ensure that the formal banking system in
the rural areas covers all the credit
requirements of farmers and others, and
that the coverage of the formal financial
system is extended to all rural households.
5. Set up a Distress Fund that will provide
support to banks in chronically drought
prone areas, and permit some debt relief to
cultivators in extreme distress.
6. Focus on increasing agricultural
productivity with sustained growth and
lower costs of production.
7. Develop a land use strategy with particular
reference to drought-prone areas.
8. Promote and provide incentives for
sustainable agriculture
9. Identify input needs and monitor the
provision of inputs to farmers
10. Promote relevant public research in
agriculture, particularly dry land
agriculture, for the development of
drought and disease resistant seeds of
cereals and pulses.
11. Analyze the relationship between input
costs and market prices, and suggest
appropriate and timely interventions by
the state/central government agencies, in
order to ensure remunerative prices to the
farmers
12. Monitor the adverse effects of droughts
and pests on agriculture and bring in the
required initiatives by the appropriate
agencies to mitigate distress on account of
these calamities.
13. Oversee the settlement of land records,
registration of all tenancies, and issue of
passbooks to all cultivators including
tenants.
14. Improve infrastructure for crop markets
and the post-harvest management of the
produce
15. Identify proper opportunities to promote
rural employment, including nonfarm
employment, encourage diversification
within and out of agriculture; develop
value addition activities such as agroprocessing
in rural areas in a way that
benefits farmers.
16. Crop failures are a disaster for farmers and
their families. Therefore government
should make legal provision about crop
insurance because they needy farmers
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Farmers Suicides In India Vol. 1, Issue . 1 / February 2011
take money from private lenders or banks
or other finical institutions but when the
crops fail, they are left with no option other
than death.
17. Set up a commission with statuary powers
that takes decisions on the issues such as
genetic modification technology and its
impact on Indian agriculture, agriculture
pricing policy and cropping pattern.
18. Government should increase public
expenditure on rural development .
Bibliography
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years of Indian Economy 1947 to
2007,New Century Publication.New
Delhi,2007
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1947-48 to 2008-09, New Century
Publication.New Delhi,2007
4. Narendra Jadhav Report on Farmers
Suicide in Maharashtra, 2007
5. Vandana Shiva-Why Are Indian Farmers
Committing Suicide & How can We Stop
This Tragedy,www.voltairent.org-
16/11/2010.
6. Wakude S.M.-Suicide of farmers in
Maharashtra-Causes & Remedies,
www.nabard - 18/11/2010
7. P.Sainath - www.indiatogther.org-
3/11/2010
8 . www.macroscan.org-15/11/2010
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,YASHADA, Pune,2006
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