India - 17,368 farm suicides in 2009

[MM_Haider]

Worst figure in six years
At least 17,368 Indian farmers killed themselves in 2009, the worst figure for farm suicides in six years, according to data of the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB). This is an increase of 1,172 over the 2008 count of 16,196. It brings the total farm suicides since 1997 to 2,16,500. The share of the Big 5 States, or ‘suicide belt' — Maharashtra, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh — in 2009 remained very high at 10,765, or around 62 per cent of the total, though falling nearly five percentage points from 2008. Maharashtra remained the worst State for farm suicides for the tenth successive year, reporting 2,872. Though that is a fall of 930, it is still 590 more than in Karnataka, second worst, which logged 2,282 farm suicides.

Economist K. Nagaraj, author of the biggest study on Indian farm suicides, says, “That these numbers are rising even as the farmer population shrinks, confirms the agrarian crisis is still burning.”

Maharashtra has logged 44,276 farm suicides since 1997, over a fifth of the total 2,16,500. Within the Big 5, Karnataka saw the highest increase of 545 in 2009. Andhra Pradesh recorded 2,414 farm suicides — 309 more than in 2008. Madhya Pradesh (1,395) and Chhattisgarh (1,802) saw smaller increases of 16 and 29. Outside the Big 5, Tamil Nadu doubled its tally with 1,060, against 512 in 2008. In all, 18 of 28 States reported higher farm suicide numbers in 2009. Some, like Jammu and Kashmir or Uttarakhand, saw a negligible rise. Rajasthan, Kerala and Jharkhand saw increases of 55, 76 and 93. Assam and West Bengal saw higher rises of 144 and 295. NCRB farm data now exist for 13 years. In the first seven, 1997-2003, there were 1,13,872 farm suicides, an average of 16,267 a year.

In the next six years 1,02,628 farmers took their lives at an average of 17,105 a year. This means, on average, around 47 farmers — or almost one every 30 minutes — killed themselves each day between 2004 and 2009.

Lower their average

Among the major States, only a few including Karnataka, Kerala and West Bengal avoided the sharp rise these six years and lowered their average by over 350 compared to the 1997-2003 period.

In the same period, the annual average of farm suicides in the Big 5 States as a whole was more than 1,650 higher than it was in 1997-2003.

(The Hindu : Columns / Sainath : 17,368 farm suicides in 2009)

 

[Prometheus]

shouldnt we talking about 2010?

and I am from a family of farmers............and uses iphone ............i dont think i am going to do suicide anytime sooner

 

[r3alist]

and uses iphone ............

this really tickled me


reminds of the indian android advert.














sorry,

 

[Veeru]

shouldnt we talking about 2010?

and I am from a family of farmers............and uses iphone ............i dont think i am going to do suicide anytime sooner

1. Yaar bande ka hazma kharab hai, usko maaf karde.

2. Where is benny? Benny look all types of troll opening threads about poverty, toilets, India not shining etc. etc.

 

[riju78]

These r grim sad figures..more lives lost than terrorist attacks..kudos to the journalist for bringing this out..the govt should be doing more I suppose...

 

[MYSTIC]

trying to farm on non arable land... they should look for other form of livelihood. Why is the government trying to promote farming in those areas????

 

[StingRoy]

It is not just about the non-arable land, but rather the reliance on external factors like weather gods for protecting their crops. A lot of the farmer suicides have happened in perfectly arable regions provided the nature complies.

The agricultural sector can only flourish when the govt provides adequate irrigation facilities and good transportation and storage facilities to these farmers. Most farmers cannot sustain from a single season of crop loss and take loans for each season.

A lot of the money is borrowed from private money lenders and sahukars who pressurize these poor farmers for repayment. The banking system should try aggressively to promote rural banking and connect with the poor farmers. I am sure the nationalized banks can take some loss and exempt interests for loans of farmers suffering crop loss due to natural factors.

 

[ajtr]

And most of them i think were cotton growers.

 

[StingRoy]

Cotton and Paddy farmers mostly

 

[great]

India has to increase its manufacturing base. Provide employment to most of these farmers. 65% of our population depends on agriculture which contributes about 25% of our economy. That's just absurd.

 

[naumananjum]

shouldnt we talking about 2010?

and I am from a family of farmers............and uses iphone ............i dont think i am going to do suicide anytime sooner

u seriously need a typical gf

 

[somebozo]

India needs land reforms and new agrarian policy!

 

[DesiGuy]

india needs to develop it's industrial economy rather than agriculture and most importantly spare some space in india.

If US wants, it can grow half of world food, but i guess they are smart and not using any land for sucking clean water...

Look at punjab and people are sucking clean water for farming, but than there those who don't have clean water to drink.

DOWN with indian ugliest and uneducated government.

 

[Vassnti]

1. Yaar bande ka hazma kharab hai, usko maaf karde.

2. Where is benny? Benny look all types of troll opening threads about poverty, toilets, India not shining etc. etc.

Dont shoot the messenger, can you imagine if terrorist attacks had killed 17,000 or if Pakistan had attacked and killed 17,000.

There would be screams the length of India for the goverment to take action.
Sadly being a poor cotton farmer hounded to death by corrupt money lenders doesnt stir the same outrage. Perhaps if it did the next Indian multi billion dollar project would be irrigation not a new missile or fighter.

 

[Prometheus]

u seriously need a typical gf

I am fortunate that I dont have "typical" gf..............she wont be forcing me to suicide