[Reader-list] Reg: Set - 10

[Rakesh Iyer]

Article Theme: Farmer's Suicides

Source: India Together

Link: http://www.indiatogether.org/2008/dec/psa-16k.htm

Date: 21 December 2008

Article Content:

*Over 16,600 farmer suicides in 2007 *
 The broad trends of the past decade seem unshaken. Farmer suicides in the
country since 1997 now total 182,936, but the real causes behind this
devastation remain unaddressed, reports P Sainath.

*21 December 2008* - Suicides by farmers of Maharashtra crossed the 4000
mark in 2007, for the third time in four years, according to the National
Crime Records Bureau (NCRB). As many as 4238 farmers of the State took their
lives that year, the latest for which data are available, accounting for a
fourth of 16,632 farmer suicides in the country.

The national total represents a slight fall, from 17,060 in 2006, but the
broad trends of the past decade seem unshaken. Farmer suicides in the
country since 1997 now total 1,82,936.

*Worst-affected states*

Yet again, the five worst-affected States - Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh,
Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, and Chhattisgarh - account for two-thirds of all
such suicides in the country. Together, they saw 11,026 in 2007. Of these,
Maharashtra alone accounted for over 38 per cent. Of the "Big five," Andhra
Pradesh saw a decline of 810 suicides against its 2006 total. Karnataka saw
a rise of 415 over the same period. Madhya Pradesh (1,375) posted a decline
of 112. But Chhattisgarh's 1593 means an increase of 110 over 2006.

Maharashtra registered a fall of 215. But Karnataka (2,135) and Andhra
Pradesh (1,797) - the next two worst-hit States - together account for less
than Maharashtra's 4000-plus. A one-year dip of 221 occurred in 2005 in the
western State only to be followed by an all-time high of 4,453 suicides in
2006. This trend shows no turn-around and remains dismal.

*Causes untouched*

Maharashtra's 2007 figure of 4238 follows one-and-half years of farm 'relief
packages' worth around Rs.5000 crores and a prime ministerial visit in
mid-2006 to the distressed Vidharbha region. Between 2005 and 2007, the
State also saw a plethora of official reports, studies, and commissions of
inquiry aimed at tackling the problem.

However, the 12,617 farmer suicides of these years are the worst-ever for
any three-year period since the State began recording such data in 1995.
Indeed, farmer suicides in Maharashtra since that year crossed the
40,000-mark. The structural causes of that crisis seem untouched.

Nationally, farmer suicides during 2002-2007 were worse than for the years
1997-2001. NCRB data are available for the whole country for 1997-2007. In
the five years till 2001, there were 15,747 farmer suicides a year on
average. For the six years from 2002, that annual average has risen to
17,366. The increase is distressingly higher in the main crisis States. *⊕*

 *P Sainath* <http://www.indiatogether.org/opinions/psainath/>
21 Nov 2008

 * P. Sainath is the 2007 winner of the Ramon Magsaysay award for
Journalism, Literature, and Creative Communication Arts. He is one of the
two recipients of the A.H. Boerma Award, 2001, granted for his contributions
in changing the nature of the development debate on food, hunger and rural
development in the Indian media. *