RAJIV GANDHI NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF LAW PATIALA,

PUNJAB

SOCIOLOGY

PROJECT REPORT ON

INCREASING SUICIDE RATES IN

FARMERS

Prepared By:

Yashasvi Nain

II Year,

B.A.,LL.B(Hons.)

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

“God gives us life to decorate it with knowledge. Life without knowledge is like river

without water.”

On completion of this Project it is our present privilege to acknowledge our profound gratitude

and indebtedness towards our teachers for their valuable suggestion and constructive criticism.

Their precious guidance and unrelenting support kept us on the right track through out the

project. We gratefully acknowledge our deepest sense of gratitude to our revered and intellectual

guide Ms. Jasleen Kewlani who has provided us important tips after the submission of first draft.

We heartly thankful of Ms. Updesh Kaur and other library staff for their able guidance and

support without which this project would not have been completed. We are also thankful to Mr.

Inderpreet and other computer staff who helped us in operating computer and providing access to

internet.

We would also like to thank for the painful and joint efforts of our group members, which helped us in bringing out this project.

We are thankful to our family members and friends for the affection and encouragement with

which doing this project became a pleasure.

Last but not least we would like to thank the ALMIGHTY whose blessings helped us in making

this project come out successfully with flying colures. 

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PREFACE:

India lives in her villages. The main occupation of the villagers is agriculture. Our agriculture is

in a backward condition. It is a matter of great concern, not only for the teeming millions, but

also for the government. Agriculture is of supreme importance for the progress of the Country.

For last few years every other day we read the news of farmers committing suicides. The number

of farmers who have committed suicides since 1997 has crossed 1 lakhs. In this context the

actual problems being faced are to be understood and analyzed. Innovative remedies have to be

thought of which are to be implemented with sincerity by the Government and the implementing

agencies, alongwith putting in place ways to rehabilitate the affected farmers. An attempt has

been made in this project to address the issue of farmer’s plight leading to suicide and measures

to address the issue have been suggested.

It is essential to understand the social analysis of suicide as a social problem. In this situation the

significant work of Emile Durkheim, a French sociologist can't be forgotten. As per Durkheim's

view simply, 'suicide' means 'self destruction'. But it reveals something lots. At least after the

serial suicidal death of Vidarbha's farmers, it didn't remain confine to merely 'self destruction'-

the simple means of suicide.

If we go by Durkheim, suicide is a social fact and not simply an individual act but a product of

social forces external to the individual. In fact, He rejects the various extra social factors such as

heredity, climate, mental alienation, racial characteristics and imitation as the cause of suicide.

Even 'Poverty' - the most general cause of suicide, as presented by media and politicians behind

the every case of suicide, has been utterly rebutted by him. He, for simple understanding, argues

that the greater the integration of individuals within the social group the less likely they are to

commit suicide.

Apparently, one thing must be raised in our mind that why Durkheim negates poverty as one of

the causes of suicide. If we believe at least some amount on a survey report conducted by the

agency of the Govt. of India that reveals most developed states have more suicide rate as

compared to the most backward states. In 2001, Maharashtra (14618), Karnataka (11881), Tamil

Nadu (11290), Andhra Pradesh (10522) have highest suicide rates respectively. On the other

hand all tribal dominated states like Arunachal Pradesh (111), Manipur (41), Mizorum (54),

Sikkim (94), and the most backward states like Bihar (603) and Jharkand (250) have very less

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suicide rate. The place Kalahandi in Orissa at one time was the center of attention in media only

because of serial deaths of persons and children due to hungry and malnutrition respectively. But

it is quiet surprising that no suicide case was reported from Kalahandi at that time.

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INDEX:

1. INTRODUCTION ……………………………………………….6

2. SUICIDE THEORY ……………………………………………...8

3. HISTORY OF AGRICULTURE………………………………..11

4. STUDY OF THREE STATES ……………………………….....12

I. MAHARASHTRA ………………………………………..12

II. KARNATAKA …………………………………………..17

III. PUNJAB ……………………………………………….....21

5. SIMILARITIES IN THEIR PROBLEMS ……………………..32

6. REASONS OF SUICIDE …………………………………….….38

7. PROGRESS IN LEGAL FIELD ………………………………..43

8. SUGGESTIONS ………………………………………………...45

9. CONCLUSION …………………………………………………..47

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Chapter 1

INTRODUCTION

India is an agricultural country; one third population depends on agriculture sector directly or

indirectly. Agriculture continues to be the mainstay of the Indian economy. Indian agriculture

contributes to the national Gross Domestic Product is about 25 per cent. With food being the

crowning need of the mankind, much emphasis has been on commercializing agricultural

production. Hence, adequate production and even distribution of food has lately become a high

priority global concern. With the changing agricultural scenario and global competition, there is

a need of exploiting the available resources at maximum level.

Agriculture is the backbone of Indian economy. Agriculture in the form of settled cultivation in

India began in the prehistoric era in the Indo-Gangetic plains. Due to diversity of soil and

climate, our country is endowed with rich flora and fauna. India became one of the early centers

for the domestication of several important corps, including paddy. Agrarian distress in the Indian

country side is become a subject of great concern for the policy framers. The issue of suicides in

rural India has become a subject of great concern and is much debated both at the central as well

as State Government level. Andhra Pradesh, applauded for its reformist and hi-tech approach to

governance, has been termed as “agrarian distress”. The vagaries of nature have been associated

with ups and downs in cultivation. In addition, disease and pests can affect crops. When the

production is good, a glut in the market can through low prices lead to poor returns from

cultivation. Increasing cost can also adversely affect returns. Spurious inputs could also leave the

farmers in quandary. There are multiple risks in agriculture- income, yield, price, input,

technology and credit among others.

In recent years, one observes an increasing incidence of farmers’ suicides. We all know that

suicide is a multifaceted and complex phenomenon, the risks are identified either in the

neurobiological or socio-economic domain. The former are predisposing in nature and are

internal to the individual whereas the latter are the precipitating ones and are external to the

individual.

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The features of the current agrarian crisis are briefly discussed as follows. First, there has been a

decline in the trend growth rate of production as well as productivity for almost all crops from

the mid-nineties. Further the value of output from agriculture has been declining from late

nineties. Second, there is an excessive dependence of a large section of the population on

agriculture (in 2004-05 nearly 64 percent of the rural persons were from households whose

members major activity status was either self-employed in limited) i. Thirdly, with the increase in

family disputes which results in declining size-class of holding and an increasing preponderance

of marginal holding along with poor returns from cultivation indicates that income for farm

households is very low. Fourthly, the much talked about green revolution had a greater focus on

rice and wheat under irrigated condition bypassing crops and regions under rain fed or dry land

conditions. There has been a failure to capitalize on the vast network of institutes to provide and

regulate new technology, including the usage of biotechnology, and a virtual absence of

extension service. Fifth, the neglect of agriculture in the plan resource allocation has led to

decline of public investments in irrigation and other related infrastructure. Sixth, supply of

credits from formal sources to the agriculture sector is inadequate leading to greater reliance on

informal sources at higher interest burden. Last but not least, with changing technology and

market conditions the farmers is increasingly being exposed to the uncertainties of the product as

well as factor market.

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Chapter 2

SUICIDE THEORY

Durkheim's theory of suicide, and revisions suggested by the later theorists, focused

predominantly on the involvement of the individual with society. Sociological approaches have

stressed that different types of suicide are the result of different social circumstances. Durkheim

pointed three primary types: egoistic, altruistic, and anomic. This typology, which differentiates

between causes of suicide produced by circumstances of integration and regulation within

society and its major institutions, remains prominent today.

Egoistic suicide occurs when individuals lack adequate integration into or involvement with

society. Persons not involved in society and its institutions are not constricted by its rules,

including those that regulate and often prohibit suicide. Instead they are regulated only by their

own rules of conduct and act in terms of their own private interests. But, altruistic suicide results

from excessive integration into society and insufficient individuation. The behavior of the

individual is almost completely determined by the social group. Such an individual may commit

suicide as a sacrifice to benefit the collective good or for the good of the large section of society.

The third major type was called anomic suicide. Anomie, or a sense of alienation, is produced by

a lack of societal regulation on an individual and therefore a lack of normative (socially

conforming) behavior. Under usual circumstances, societal regulation provides a sense of

equilibrium and limits. When changes are usually of an abrupt nature occur in the situation of an

individual or culture, equilibrium is disrupted and a state of deregulation exists. Under such

circumstances the anomic individual is left without clear norms to guide behavior. Suicide is one

possible result in this situationii.

Psychological and Biological Explanations:

Early psychological theories, and especially those of Sigmund Freud, contended that individual,

internal psychological forces, rather than social forces, could lead to depression and suicide.

According to Freud an essential aspect of understanding suicide was to view it as part of an

instinctual human tendency toward aggression and destruction. He regarded suicide as one

manifestation of his theorized "death instinct," called thanatos, as opposed to the powerful "life

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instinct," erosiii. In suicides the death instinct somehow manages to overcome the life instinct.

Freud's second, considerably more complex explanation is based on the notion that an individual

who commits suicide feels aggression and anger over the loss of love objects but turns these

feelings inward on himself or herself. In recent decades, psychological theories of suicide are

prevalent and many of them continue to highlight the role of depressive disorders that produce

suicidal thoughts and actions. For example, American psychologist Edwin Shneidman has

theorized that suicidal persons share a number of attributes. Prominent among these are thwarted

or blocked psychological needs and the perception that circumstances and problems are

unsolvable and that nothing done will be helpful. That is, such persons experience a sense of

hopelessness and helplessness. As a result of constriction in their cognitive abilities, suicidal

individuals also typically fail to see alternative ways to cope with their circumstances. They are

ambivalent about suicide, however, wanting to die but at the same time wanting to live. Finally,

and most importantly, Shneidman theorizes that there exists in any suicide an unbearable

psychological pain from which the person desires to escape. He refers to this intolerable pain as

"psychache" and contends that it is the cause of individual suicide acts iv. Suicide is prevented

when this pain, or the factors that lead to it, is reduced to tolerable levels.

Adding to these explanations of suicide, more recent research findings suggest that biological

factors possibly play contributing roles, particularly in the production of depression and

subsequent suicide. These findings have implicated biochemical substances that may be involved

in producing depression and ultimately suicide. Farmers are also affected by such psychological

pressure as a result they cannot bear that pressure and commit suicide.

Durkheim reasoned that suicide occurs in all societies but the suicide rate for various groups are

often both different than other groups within the same society and stable over time. These

differences and stability in group rates indicated that there was something other than psychology

involved in the decision to commit suicide. It is simply impossible, Durkheim insisted, to explain

or interpret the characteristics and behaviors of human groups on a psychological or biological

basis. Much of whom and what we are, of how we behave and what we believe, are due to social

forces.

As per Durkheim, Suicide can be categorized into its three sub types namely:

Egoistic suicide resulted from very less integration of individuals and the society in which they

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live. Those individuals who were not sufficiently bound to social groups (and therefore well-

defined values, traditions, norms, and goals) were left with little social support or guidance, and

thus tended to commit suicide on an increased basis. An example Durkheim discovered was that

of unmarried people, particularly males, who, with less to bind and connect them to stable social

norms and goals, committed suicide at higher rates than married people.

Altruistic suicide was a result of too much integration between the society and individuals. It

occurred at the opposite end of the integration scale as egoistic suicide. Self sacrifice was the

defining trait, where individuals were so integrated into social groups that they lost sight of their

individuality and became willing to sacrifice themselves to the group's interests, even if that

sacrifice was their own life. The most common cases of altruistic suicide occurred among

members of the military.

Anomic suicide is a result of a complete breakdown of a system/regulated environment rather

like the literal meaning of the word Anomie that is lack of regulation coupled with a breakdown

of norms. Durkheim defined the term anomie as a condition where social and/or moral norms are

confused, unclear, or simply not present. Durkheim felt that this lack of norms--or pre-accepted

limits on behavior in a society--led to deviant suicidal behavior.

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Chapter 3

HISTORY OF AGRICULTURE

Agriculture was almost always supported by the Indian ruling class. The priestly class was

strongly patron of agriculture too and it argued the prosperous agriculture was the base of

empires. Taxes on farmers, which rarely exceeds one-sixth of the production, were always kept

low. Ancient literature and mythology is replete with allusions to the encouragement to

agriculture and trade. Archeological findings reveal that both wheat and rice were grown as

domesticated crops along the Ganga in the sixth millennium BC. However several species of

winter cereals such as barley, oats and legumes or lentils, and chickpeas, domesticated in south

west Asia, were grown in northwest India even before the sixth millennium BC. Some millet

such as sorghum, pearl millet and finger millet, which were domesticated in southwest Asia,

came to India more than 4,000 years agov.

In the Ramayana, Rama asks his brother Bharata, “Dear Bahrat, have you ensured that all

those engaged in agriculture and animal husbandry receive your special care and attention?”

In Mahabharata, patriarch man, Bhishma, advises King Yudhishtra in “Shantiparva”,

“Agriculture, animal husbandry and trade are the very life of the people. Have you ensured

that the cultivators are not forced to deserting the country because of the exaction imposed by

you? It is indeed the cultivators who carry the burden of the king on their shoulders and also

provide sustenance to all others.” The Arthashastra also mentions a “superintendent of cattle”

whose duty was to supervise livestock, keep a census and monitor the situation so that cattle

were reared properly. The Arthashastra gives an elaborate description of the amount of food a

bull, a cow, or a buffalo should be supplied with. Maintaining pastures and open land around

the village was encouraged. These incidents show the importance of agriculture in ancient

tomes also. At present also India is considered as agrarian country and agriculture is the base

of our economy.

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Chapter 4

STUDY OF THREE STATES:

1. MAHARASHTRA:

There is an old saying in Marathi:

“Ithe shetkari karztach janmato aani karzatach maran paavto”

Which means:

"Farmer takes the birth in debt and dies in the same condition". This was the position of farmers

before independence and it still continue after 60 years of independence. If we analyze the

suicides by farmers in Maharashtra it is revealed that it is higher in Vidarbha region of the State

where farmers preferred cultivation of "white gold" i.e. cotton. But this is now a risky venture as

they suffered due to non-availability of quality seeds coupled with the farmers or incapacity to

buy costly Bt. cotton seeds. They could also not get remunerative price for their produce.

According to Dr. M.S. Swaminathan, although 60% people in India depend on agriculture and

Agriculture Sector contributes 25% of National Income over the period investment and

production in agriculture has declined. In developed world the percentage of dependence of

population on agriculture is much less e.g. in USA it is only 2% and income from agriculture is

just 4%. The Union home ministry’s website displays the data of farmers’ suicides in 2007 and a

close look into the available version indicates that Maharashtra tops the entire country with

regard to the suicide of distressed farmers.

According to the website, 16,632 farmers ended their lives in 2007 and

Maharashtra had the highest figure of 4,238 of whom 1,520 are reported from

Vidarbha region alonevi.

Nearly 29,000 farmers committed suicide in Maharashtra between 1997 and 2005, official data

show. No other State comes close to that total. This means that of the roughly 1.5 lakh farmers

who killed themselves across the country in that period, almost every fifth one was from

Maharashtra — which saw a 105 per cent increase in farm suicides in those nine years. More

than 19,000 of those farmer suicides occurred from 2001 onwards.

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These dismal findings emerge from a major study of official data on farm suicides by K. Nagaraj

of the Madras Institute of Development Studies (MIDS)vii.

Acting on a public interest petition filed by the All India Biodynamic and Organic Farming

Association, in December 2004, the Bombay High Court requested the TISSviii to submit a report

on possible causes for the suicides.

A team from the TISS’s rural campus in Tuljapur, Osmanabad district, spent eight weeks in 12

districts in the three regions of the state reported to have witnessed the largest number of suicides

in early 2005. It investigated 36 of the 644 cases of suicide, studying their causes and the reasons

for the desperate state of farmers. The TISS submitted its findings to the high court in March

2005.

Key findings of the TISS survey are as follows:

1. The suicides are not restricted to income level or landholding category. They occurred both

among large landholding owners and the landless and across all caste groups.

1. The causes, however, are common - repeated crop failure, inability to meet the rising cost

of cultivation, and indebtedness. In all cases, this extreme step was taken only after all

avenues were exhausted.

2. Understanding the profile of the victims in their social and economic contexts can help

gauge the depth and spread of the tragic phenomenon, says the report. Fifty per cent of

the total sample constituted small landholders who owned up to five acres, 43% medium

landholders who owned between five and 15 acres, and 5% large landholders who owned

more than 15 acres. The remaining 2% did not own land. “The overwhelming numbers

are reflected in the small and medium-sized holdings across caste groups. This is

suggestive of a problem that is widespread, cutting across caste and class barriers,” says

the report.

3. Of the sample, 89% were married. This indicates the pressure to provide for a household.

A startling 81% were literate, primarily because most of the people who committed

suicide were men.

4. Seventy per cent of the total number of suicide victims grew cotton as their primary cash

crop. The cost of cotton cultivation is between Rs 2,500 and Rs 3,000 an acre. Another

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5% took up horticulture as the major occupation, while the remaining 20% cultivated tur,

urad, soybean, jowar, vegetables and sugarcane. Once again, the data suggests that

cultivators of all sorts of crops are affected.

Suicide is a social phenomenon that differs across gender groups and it is appropriate to discuss

about patterns in males and females separately. The trends in age-adjusted Suicide Mortality

Rate (SMR) in Maharashtra from 1995 to 2004 are given in Table below. Age adjusted SMR for

males increased from 17.4 in 1995 to 20.3 in 2004 and that for females decreased from 13.6 in

1995 to 10.8 in 2004. Absolute numbers of male suicides decreased in 1996, but thereafter it has

been increasing for the whole period. For females, absolute number of suicides decreased in

1996 and then increased in the next two years, but has been declining since 1999. Age-adjusted

SMR for males has not always been increasing indicating that the increase in number of suicides

has to be correct .There is likely to be underreporting of suicide deaths to police because of legal

hassles and shame identified with the act. In fact, between 2001 and 2004 age-adjusted SMR for

males has been in the range of 20-21ix. Decline in absolute female suicides when population has been

increasing explains the declining age-adjusted SMR for females.

Table

Number of Suicides and Age-Adjusted Suicide Mortality Rates in Maharashtra, 1995-2004

Year Number of Suicides Age Adjusted (5+)

Suicide Mortality Rate

(Male/ female) SMR Ratio

Males Females Males Females

1995 6882 4984 17.4 13.6 1.28

1996 6489 4727 16.1 12.6 1.27

1997 7333 5303 17.7 13.8 1.28

1998 8014 5644 18.9 14.4 1.31

1999 8021 5573 18.5 13.9 1.33

2000 8706 5299 19.6 12.9 1.52

2001 9338 5280 20.6 12.6 1.63

2002 9447 5082 20.3 11.9 1.71

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2003 9810 4950 20.6 11.3 1.83

2004 9903 4826 20.3 10.8 1.89

Note: Suicide Mortality Rate indicated suicide deaths per 100000 populations. Year wise population for each sub-group was interpolated/extrapolated and adjusted to give estimates that are sub group consistent. Age-adjusted Suicide Mortality Rate excludes age group of 0-4 years, as suicide is not defined for this population. For age unadjusted SMR see Table 3.1a in Annexure 5. For district/division wise trends, age-specific, education wise, marital status wise, cause wise, method wise and profession wise data see Tables 3.1b-3.1i in Annexure 5.

Source: Census of India, 1991 and 2001; Accidental Deaths and Suicides in India, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998 and 1999, National Crime Records Bureau, Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India, Various Years; Communication from Additional Director General of Police, Crime Investigation Department, Maharashtra State, Pune, through their letter number CID/STATS/Suicides/4377/2005 dated 12 July 2005; and www.indiastat.com (accessed 5 October 2005).

The male/female Suicide Mortality Rate ratio in Maharashtra has decreased from 1.28 in 1995 to

1.27 in 1996 but thereafter it has been increasing and the ratio was 1.89 in 2004. At the all India

level it has decreased from 1.32 in 1995 to 1.29 in 1996 but thereafter it has increased and the

ratio was 1.47 in 2001. The all India male/female SMR ratio was higher than that for

Maharashtra till 1999, but thereafter in 2000 and 2001 the ratio has been higher in Maharashtra.

This trend might have continued, but as we have all India suicide data by sex only till 2001 we

do not want to speculate on the possibilities. However, the male/female SMR ratio in

Maharashtra as well as that of India is much lower than the global scenario of 3.3 in 1998 (male

SMR of 26.9 and female SMR of 8.2)x.

Male farmers with large female numerous and fewer agriculture assets like a pair of bullocks,

were most likely to commit suicide in the face of a price shock or crop failure. It was calculated

that a farmer with 15 acres of land of land would earn a net income of 32500. A class 4 th

employee of the Government, the lowest ranking civil servant, is better off since he earns more

then double that amount plus untaxed perks like cheap housing and pension benefit. The

uncertainty contributed by price fluctuation, failed rainfall and unscrupulous suppliers of

spurious seed, fertilizers and pesticides, make the picture grimmer. In the absence of non

agricultural sources income and saddled with large family, under stress for meeting social

obligation, some of the farmers fell victim to suicidexi.

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Suggestions:

The State could restore the 'advance bonus' of Rs.500 a quintal. On 210 lakh quintals

(taking the previous year's output as the base), the cutting of the bonus implies a loss of

Rs.1050 crore to farmers - every year. That's why the suicides shot up after its withdrawal.

Alongside this, the State could ensure fresh crop loans for every farmer this new season.

The kind of emergency Vidarbha is in the loans should carry minimal interest. For non-

irrigated farmers, they should be interest free (China, as Dr. M.S. Swaminathan has pointed

out, has a zero per cent interest rate for farmers.) The crop loans must be based on the new

costs of production per acre and not on outdated prices. Getting this issue wrong will push

many lakhs of people deeper into the grip of moneylenders. It's heresy of course, in this era,

to suggest writing off farmers' loans of up to Rs.25000. (Most of these were smaller sums

that have bloated with interest.) You could modulate the measure according to the acreage

held by the farmer. And one can endlessly debate the wisdom of such a step. The truth

though is simple. Whether you write them off or not, people cannot pay.

It also makes sound sense to give incentives to those who grow food crops. Jowar once held

30 per cent of acreage in this region. Today, that's 5 per cent. This has not only meant loss

of a vital food crop, but also a severe scarcity of fodder. An incentive of Rs.1000 per acre

for jowar cultivation would have many benefits. It would give poor farmers sustenance. It

would revive a crucial crop of a region. And it would allow real space for animal husbandry

with fodder making a comeback.

The State could also ask the Centre to impose a 60 per cent duty on cotton imports. (Equal

to that on sugar, Maharashtra's other major crop.) This is needed as western subsidies on

cotton have gone over the top. The United States last year gave its 20,000 growers a

subsidy of $4 billion. The damage that has done to world cotton prices allows for extra

cheap imports that crush cotton growers here.

There's a big need to strengthen the rural employment guarantee programme. There is a

huge demand for it where people learn of it. Landless labourers, hit by the fall in farming,

are in the worst of shape. One can also see landed farmers with six acres in the queues for

work. So great is the pressure. So one can imagine the plight of the landless.

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The Government should move fast to curb medical expenses and health debt. This is a

rapidly growing component of family debt here. Lots of farmers have mortgaged acres of

land to pay their costly private hospital bills. It would make a difference if the State were to

set up more public medical centres and bring in more doctors for these. Also, private

hospitals must be made to lower their charges.

Education is one of the badly hit sectors here. It is within the State's power to declare a fees

waiver for the children of farm families unable to pay school fees and thus dropping out.

Rural children should also not be required to pay for bus tickets when journeying to school.

At higher levels, many children who have got into professional institutions are now unable

to now meet the costs. Their parents are bankrupt. Here too, the State could step in to help

ease the burden.

Both Centre and State could get their act together and set up a Price Stabilisation Fund.

And link the minimum support price to the wholesale price index. The National

Commission for Farmers has already asked for this. Price volatility has been one of the

things that have hit farmers hardest. Getting shock absorbers in place to ensure them a

decent price would make things a lot better.

2. KARNATAKA:

Characteristics of Karnataka agriculture have changed over the past couple of years; it

changed from non-capitalist path to agrarian capitalist path. Karnataka agriculture needs to be

located within the larger framework of uneven capitalist development. Although we can see

that some sort of capitalist development was introduced long back during the colonial period

but agrarian capitalism received a boost with the introduction of Green Revolution in late 60s,

implementation of land reforms and establishment of institutions such as cooperatives

measures during the post-independence period. Most important thing is that, this path of

development also allowed large number of new categories to emerge and enter into the larger

domain of agrarian capitalism. The change can be seen in the increasing use of New

Technology-seed or fertilizer, fragmentation of lands, increase in the landlessness or laboring

class, linkage of local with the national/international market, depeasantisation of categories

etc. However the beginning of agrarian crisis once again required to be located during the

decade of 1980s when issues of terms of trade going against the agriculture were taken up.

They are also manifested in such issues as unremunerative prices, urban biased policy,

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declaring agriculture as an industry, writing off loans, etc. The crisis also manifested in the

form of farmers taking out long marches, bundhs, rallies under the banner of farmers’

movement. During all these years we can notice that, no farmer committed suicide neither

farmers’ movement advocated such a tactics. However this crisis continued to transgress the

gender, caste, class etc.

One important issue is the way the World Bank could able to dictate the terms to the

Karnataka government. The World Bank dictated terms have gone against the interest of the

farmers. This is apparent when Karnataka government for example, went for World Bank

loan, which granted Economic Restructuring loan in 2001. This loan came along with a

condition that government should withdraw from the power sector as regulator and distributor

of power. This led to the bifurcation of the Electricity Board and the subsequent creation of

Corporation on the one hand, partial withdrawal of subsidy given to the farmers or to the

agriculture-in the latter case the free power given to the agriculture was withdrawn and also

the fact that it increased the power tariff drastically.

This results in the failure of the cooperative sector in Karnataka, which could have helped the

farmers in overcoming the debts, which is the major issue of suicide among the farmers.

In one side the Karnataka government could not able to checkmate the growth of money

lenders on the one hand, at the same time it failed to make the cooperative movement a

success one. In Karnataka although there are 32,382 Cooperative Societies at the village level,

but almost 40 cent of them are running under loss, nearly twenty cent of them are either

defunct or liquidated. This failure has helped in trapping the farmers in vicious circle of

exploitation by the moneylenders. Secondly the agrarian crisis also accentuated with the

growing introduction of new technology in agriculture. The Karnataka government is one of

the first governments to allow the field trials of Bt.Cotton. In fact the attack on Monsanto by

the farmers twice in Karnataka is but the reaction to the growing corporatization of agriculture

on the one hand, the larger consequences of new technology on the other. Its seeds in many

places completely ruined the agricultural production- as they became spurious as well as the

fact that the claim of surplus production was never realized- in the process the farmers’ lost

heavily.

Agrarian crisis was further increased with the severe draught in different parts of the state. In

2002 alone 143 talukas, which went up to 159 in the subsequent year, out of 176 talukas in the

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state, were declared as drought areas. Earlier 67 talukas in Karnataka faced “acute” drought,

and 60 “moderate” drought”. In total 29,193 villages faced drought. Out of which 4499

villages come under the category of “acute drought” and 2712 under “moderate drought.” In

some districts the drought was the reaction or the consequence of political inactivity. This is

apparent in the canal areas, where the tail Enders would be the one highly affected. For

example in the case of Mandya district, the absence of judicious distribution of water for the

tail ender ultimately ended up in a situation of drought and, consequently couple of farmers’

committed suicide due to “man made drought”. Drought brought down land under sowing –

for example during 2003 out of 69 lakh hectares coming under sowing during Khariff only

16.84 lakh hectares were sown. The tapping of large-scale underground water further

aggravated this drought.

Relief by Government:

This is not like that government is not at all concern with the pathetic condition of farmers.

Government came out with series of concessions or relief’s such as exemption of interest on

the loans (amounting to Rs.127 crores in 2002) exemption of 66 drought affected taluks from

land revenue, food for work programme, supply of fodder, and the drought issue remains

prominent.

Farmers’ Suicide between 1 April 2003 and 1 January 2007 in Karnataka

District 2003-04 2004-05 2005-06 2006-07 Total (4 yrs)

(As on Jan. 2007)

Bagalkote 24 06 03 04 37

Bangalore Rural 30 06 05 01 42

Bangalore Urban - 02 00 00 02

Bidar 32 07 06 11 56

Hassan 69 37 13 07 126

Chamraj Nagar 10 02 00 - 12

Haveri 38 09 02 04 53

Uttara Kannada 07 00 06 04 17

Page | 19

Dharwad 31 09 00 - 40

Koppal 20 15 10 14 59

Mandya 46 11 00 - 57

Chickmagalur 24 10 03 18 55

Raichur 05 03 01 04 13

Tumkur 41 11 06 16 74

Shimoga 50 12 04 11 77

Kolar 18 10 03 02 33

Mysore 18 01 00 - 19

Udupi 03 01 00 - 04

Kodagu 12 12 12 10 46

Belgaum 41 33 10 22 116

Davanagere 39 12 05 11 67

Bellary 31 11 05 02 47

Chitradurga 55 19 08 17 99

Gulbarga 18 06 07 03 34

Bijapur 22 09 09 13 53

D.K 09 05 04 03 21

Gadag 13 02 01 10 26

Total 708 171 124 187 1193

Source: Statistics from the official website Department of Agriculture.

In fact acuteness of agrarian crisis is apparent in the year 2003, as it was a year when

Karnataka experienced sever drought in more than thirteen districts. In fact, the state could

have easily checkmated the drought.

Suggestions:

For improving agricultural condition in Karnataka some suggestions are given below which

are useful controlling such suicide among the farmers.

Page | 20

In the next five years, programmes will be prepared to meet the agricultural growth

objective, keeping in view the sustainable management of natural resources and

technologies.

Representatives of the Agricultural Research Station and Krishi Vigyan Kendra are

helping the task force here in preparing strategies incorporating various aspects that

will go a long way in boosting the growth of the agriculture sector in the district.

There is need to stress on implementation of workable strategy for water management

in rain fed areas and also adopting the watershed approach in drought prone and water

and areas. The arrangement and effective equitable utilization of our shared water

resources is the key element in improving agricultural performance.

There is a need that agriculture Policy in future envisages a move from the traditional

grain based strategy followed in the past towards diversification, emphasizing

horticulture, poultry and live stock. This transition poses new challenges including

i . Mamoria, C.B. and Badri Bishal Tripathi, Agriculture Problems of India, Kitab Mahal, Allahabad, 2007, p. 129-130.

ii P.shankararao

iii Suicide: A Study in Sociology  by  Durkheim, Émile 2005, p. 45.

iv Ibid.

v Bibek Debroy and Amir Ullah Khan, Enabling Agricultural Markets For The Small Indian Farmer , Bookwell ,New Delhi, 2003, p.234

vi Retrieved from http://agrariancrisis.wordpress.com/category/vidharba-crisis/ visited on April 10, 2009

vii P. Sainath, Maharashtra: ‘graveyard of farmers’, The Hindu, Wednesday, Nov 14, 2007

viii Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Bombay

ixMeeta and Rajivlochan, Farmers suicide: facts and possible policy interventions, Yashada, Pune, 2006 pp. 11-13.

x M Rajivlochan, Farmers and firefighters, in Indian Express, August 28, 2007

xi Meeta and Rajivlochan, Farmers suicide: facts and possible policy interventions, Yashada, Pune, 2006 pp. 11-13.

Page | 21

new institutional arrangements. In addition to having more efficient markets and

improved delivery channels from farmers to consumers, the policy has underlined the

importance of the concerted efforts to increase value addition to agricultural produce.

3. PUNJAB:

Suicides by cultivators and agricultural labourers have been reported in Punjab since the mid

1980s. A combination of economic factors such as, economic hardship of the pauperized

peasant households, crop failure, unemployment and indebtedness has pushed the victims to

end their lives. This is happening in the wake of decline of community sense/support

mechanism as result of the emergence of new production relations.

Rural areas of Punjab experienced a general spurt in their prosperity after the green revolution

in the mid 1960s. The potentials of green of revolution technology began to be exhausted in

the 1980s generating pressure of economic stress among the poor strata of peasantry and

agricultural labourers. The impact of economic distress and decline of traditional social

support system based on community support made the poor people helpless and unable to

fend for themselves as individual families and persons. The non-existence of formal and

informal social support mechanisms caused many poor peasants and agricultural labourers to

break under economic and social stress and to commit suicides. The phenomenon of suicides

under economic distress has been observed in rural Punjab since the mid 1980s. This

phenomenon is not observed equally across all the regions of the state. There are some areas

with high intensity of suicide while in other areas this phenomenon is little known.

The number of farmers and agricultural labourers committing suicide has been growing in the

recent past especially between 1994 and 1997. But it is very difficult to arrive at the exact

estimate of suicides in the rural areas especially by the poor cultivators and agricultural

labourers. The obvious reason for lack of such statistics is the negative fallout of suicide cases

for the family members left behind. If the suicide case is reported to the police (the necessary

condition for recording it), then the case has to be registered by the police for investigation to

establish the cause of the death and fix the responsibility to specific individual(s) responsible

for the suicide. This involves a lot of harassment of the family members at the hands of the

police officials. At the same time, the dead body of the victim has to be taken to the hospital

for post mortem before cremation. This leads to delay in cremation and also removal of some

Page | 22

organs from the body in addition to its disfigurement. The rural people do not appreciate this.

Thus, most of the suicide cases are not reported to the police and are recorded as normal

deaths caused by factors not related to suicide such as illness of various types.

The estimates prepared by various individuals and organizations are mostly guesstimates. The

data collected and presented by Hardev Singh Arshi, a Communist Party of India MLA in

1998 and by Sardar Indeljit Singh Jaijee Ex. MLA (Akali Dal) are rough estimates. Both of

these estimates are based on incidence of suicides in Sangrur, Mansa and Bathinda districts.

These districts show a high tendency among farmers to commit suicide compared to other

districts of the statexii. Any estimate based on the average of one or two or more blocks in the

high intensity districts, is likely to generate over estimate of the number of suicide cases of

farmers and agricultural labourers. There is no systematic study as yet conducted in Punjab to

cover all districts of the state to arrive at accurate estimates of such suicide cases.

A study sponsored by the Government of Punjab to examine this phenomenon at the

aggregate Punjab level based itself on police records which are very inaccurate on this issue

for the above stated reasons. The studies based on sampled cases by individuals and

organizations are extremely useful and contribute to our understanding of the emerging

phenomenon of suicides among the distressed sections of rural population in the state. Reports

from leading newspapers in the region (The Tribune, Indian Express, The Hindu, Business

Standards, Hindustan Times) focused on this issue and made the public aware of this problem

in the most agriculturally advanced state in the country. The farmer organizations attempted

to mobilize the peasantry on this issue and linked it to the problem of indebtedness and

especially to debt trap among the farmers. The issue became a subject of debate in political

circles of the state with outstanding contribution by two politicians (Mr. Hardev Singh Arshi

and Indeljit Singh Jaijee) and farmer and peasant organizations. The focusing of this issue in

political circles was accompanied by three studies by academics based on areas and districts

highly prone to farmer’s suicides. The study by Bhalla examined the 53 confirmed cases of

suicides spread over 14 villages (11 in Sangrur district and one each in Amritsar,

Nawanshahar and Ludhiana district). The report brought out that 45.20 per cent of the victims

were landless labourers, 24.50 per cent small and marginal farmers (0-5 acre land holding),

xii H.S. Shergill, Rural Credit and Indebtedness of Farmers in Punjab, Institute for Development and Communication, Chandigarh, 1998.

Page | 23

18.80 per cent upper medium farmers and 5.60 per cent large farmers (15 and above acres of

land holdings). This study showed that agricultural labourers and poor peasants or farmers

accounted for 70 per cent of the suicides from the confirmed cases in the villages. It further

brought out that the majority of the victims, 60.30 per cent belonged to young persons in the

age group of 15-29 years and another 30.20 per cent belonged to the age group of 30-44 years.

The relatively aged victims, of 45 years and above, constituted the remaining 9.50 per cent of

the cases. In terms of educational attainment, 58.50 per cent of the cases belonged to

illiterates, 11.30 per cent to primary level, 11.30 per cent to middle level of schooling and

matriculation and above constituted 18.90 per cent of the total cases. The study reported that

the largest cause of suicides was family discord accounting for 35.79 per cent of the suicides

whilst alcohol and illicit drug use caused 17.89 per cent of the suicides. The economic causes,

such as indebtedness (17.89 per cent), loss of status (16.84 per cent), lack of resources (6.32

per cent) and crop failure (1.05 per cent) accounted for 42.10 per cent of the suicides. The rest

of the suicides were caused by death in the family (3.16 per cent) and quarrel with in laws

(1.05 per cent). Compared to this, the study by Iyer and Manick (2000) based on 80 suicide

cases from 7 villages of three blocks of Sangrur district (Lehragaga, Andana and Bamala) has

confirmed the findings of Bhalla in the matter of age group, educational level and socio-

economic background but differed widely in the matter of causes of suicides. It has been

brought out that economic factors such as distress have been primarily responsible for (78.75

per cent) suicides among the confirmed 80 cases. These studies establish a close linkage

between economic hardship, indebtedness and suicide. These studies further brought out that

economic hardship/poor economic condition led to indebtedness and indebtedness (high

interest rate) led to economic distress causing suicidexiii.

The pressure of commission agents or banks for return of loan and fear of being arrested and

consequently loss of social status led to 21.6 per cent of the suicides. The threat of land

auction/notice caused 1.3 per cent of the suicides in the study areasxiv. The largest source of

credit has been from non-institutional sources such as commission agents and landlords

xiii . G. S. Bhalla, et. al., Suicides in Rural Punjab, Institute for Development and Communication, Chandigarh (1998).

xiv G.S. Bhalla, et. al., Suicides in Rural Punjab, Institute for Development and Communication, Chandigarh (1998)

Page | 24

separately or in combination with commercial banks and co-operatives. The high interest rate

charged on loans and diversion loans for non-productive purposes or crop failure had placed

them into a debt trap. Creating pressure for suicides through a variety factors mentioned

earlier.

These above studies bring out that the suicide cases among poor peasants and agricultural

labourers are spread over all the three regions of Punjab i.e. Majha, Malwa and Doaba but

there is high concentration of such cases in three of the districts of Malwa. These districts are

Sangrur, Mansa and Bathinda. These suicides are predominantly caused by economic distress

and indebtedness. The highly commercialized form of agriculture accompanied by spirit of

individualism and decline of traditional social support mechanism and non-existence of a

formal safety system have pushed several rural poor into suicides when faced with acute

economic hardship and indebtedness, along with social and family pressures associated with

them.

So there is a need to organize a comprehensive survey in the state to arrive at accurate

estimates of economic stress related suicides among the farmers and agricultural labourers.

This task cannot be performed by an individual or a research institution on its own. This

would require support and sponsorship of the Punjab government. The government can

appoint an expert group to make estimates and analyze causes and suggest remedial measures

to prevent this unfortunate phenomenon.

Emergence of Economic Distress and its Manifestations:

Economic activities in the state are showing structural change over period of time. Primary

sector is experiencing a decline both in its share of state domestic product (SDP) as well as

the share of workforce. This sector accounted for 49.13 per cent of the share of SDP in 1980-

1981, which declined to 40.32 per cent in 2001-02. Correspondingly, the shares of secondary

and tertiary sectors have increased respectively from 20.01 per cent and 30.86 per cent in

1980-81 to 24.03 per cent and 35.65 of the SDP (Table 1)xv. The share of agriculture and

livestock in SDP of the primary sector has been more than 98.10 per cent during 1980-81 to

xv Iqbal Singh, ‘Reverse Tenancy in Punjab Agriculture: Impact of Technological Change’, Economic and Political Weekly, Vol. 37, No. 25, 1989.

Page | 25

2001. The share of agriculture alone (cultivators and agricultural labourers) in the total

workforce of the state stood at 58.01 in 1981 but declined to 39.4 per cent in 2001. Thus, the

agriculture and livestock, though experiencing a decline in their importance, yet remains the

single largest sector of the economy of the state.

Table 1: Percentage Distribution of Net State Domestic Product at Factor Cost at Constant Prices

Sr.

No.

Sector 1980-81 1990-91 2000-01

1. Agriculture 33.76 31.17 27.15

2. Livestock 14.44 15.19 12.64

3. Forestry and Logging 0.88 0.53 0.14

4. Fishing 0.03 0.08 0.39

5. Mining and Quarrying 0.02 0.04 0.00

Sub Total (Primary) 49.13 47.01 40.32

6. Registered manufacturing 6.70 10.10 9.92

7. Unregistered manufacturing 4.96 6.69 5.41

8. Electricity, Gas and Water supply 2.64 3.79 2.65

9. Construction 5.71 3.76 5.05

Sub Total (Secondary) 20.01 24.34 24.03

10. Trade, Hotels and Restaurants 13.10 10.37 12.53

11. Transport, Storage and Communication 2.61 3.11 5.22

12. Banking and Insurance 2.30 4.28 4.84

13. Real Estate and Business Services 4.70 3.49 4.28

Page | 26

14. Public Administration 2.85 3.35 4.68

15. Other Services and Sanitary 5.30 4.05 4.10

Sub Total (Tertiary) 3.86 28.65 35.65

Total State Domestic Product 100.00 100.00 100.00

Note: Figures for 1980-81 and 1990-91 are at a980-81 prices and for 2000-01 at 1993-94 prices.

Cropping Pattern:

Punjab had a fairly diversified cropping pattern before the green revolution. The share of

cereals in the total cropped area was 45.65 per cent and food grains 64.73 per cent as pulses

accounted for 19.08 per cent of the area in 1960-61. Other important crops were cotton, oil

seeds and sugarcane respectively grown on 9.45 per cent, 3.94 per cent and 2.81 per cent of

the total cropped area. Though wheat was the most dominant crop, it was cultivated on only

29.509 per cent of the area. The share of rice in the area was only 4.80 per cent in 1960-61.

Over the years, Punjab agriculture has progressively moved towards the mono crop culture.

The situation was nearly obtained by 1980-81. The area under food grains had increased to

77.77 per cent and under cereals to 66.76 per cent. The area under wheat had increased to

41.57 per cent and under rice to 17.49 per cent of the cropped area. Crops like oilseeds,

sugarcane and pulses were nearly decimated with their respective share being 1.39 per cent,

1.35 per cent and 1.91 per cent of the total area under cultivation. The situation had gone from

bad to worse by 2000-01. The share of food grains in the total area has increased to 79.11 per

cent of the total cropped area and that of cereals to 78.41 per cent, which is predominantly

occupied by wheat-rice combination accounting for 75.87 per cent of the total cropped area.

Along with oilseeds, sugarcane and pulses, cotton had also suffered in the decade of the

nineties. The share of cotton in total area had been above 9 percent during 1960-61 to 1999-

2000 but declined to 5.96 per cent by 2000-01 (Table 2). The share of all other (that is, other

than wheat-rice) crops has been reduced to 24.13 per cent in the total cropped area. In winter

it is wheat everywhere and in summer, rice is cultivated in the fields of Punjab.

Page | 27

Table 2: Shift in Cropping Pattern in Punjab 1960-61 to 2000-01 (Percentage of Gross Cropped Area)

Year Food-

grams

Cereals Wheat Rice Cotton Oil

seeds

Sugar-

cane

Pulses

1960-61 64.33 45.65 29.59 4.80 9.45 3.91 2.81 19.08

1970-71 69.18 61.89 40.49 6.87 6.99 5.20 2.25 7.29

1980-81 77.77 66.76 41.57 17.49 9.60 3.52 1.05 5.04

1990-91 75.55 73.65 43.63 26.86 9.34 1.39 1.35 1.91

1995-96 74.17 72.94 41.17 28.33 9.62 3.07 1.76 1.23

1997-98 72.87 71.63 41.34 27.62 9.16 3.15 2.23 1.24

1998-99 74.60 73.55 41.94 28.94 9.20 1.77 1.60 1.05

1999-00 78.29 77.35 42.35 32.53 7.27 2.07 1.33 0.94

2000-01 79.67 78.90 43.18 33.18 6.07 1.25 1.38 0.78

2000-01 71.11 78.41 42.95 32.92 5.96 1.08 1.52 0.69

Source: Statistical Abstract of Punjab (various issues).

Stagnating Productivity:

The green revolution technology raised the productivity of both wheat and rice significantly.

Per hectare yield of wheat increased from 2,095 Kg during 1967-68 to 19669-70 to 4,530 Kg

during 1998-99 to 2000-01 and rice from 1,392 Kg to 3.335 Kg during this period. But

recently productivity rise is either very slow or stagnating showing exhausting potential of

green revolution technology. The rice yield per hectare has stagnated around 3335-3341 Kg

during the last one decade (1990-91 to 2000-01). The case of wheat, however, is different.

The wheat productivity (yield per hectare) is continuously growing but its rate of growth is

declining. In case of cotton the productivity level has declined in absolute terms giving a

negative growth rate (Table 3). The farmers have achieved 75 per cent of the realizable

potential yields of rice and wheat. The irrigation potentials are fully exhausted and irrigated

area as percentage of net sown area has stagnated at 95 per cent (Table 3). There is no scope

of increasing the area under cultivation. At the same Punjab has become nearly a double crop

area with cropping intensity also stagnating around 186 (Table 4)xvi.

Table 3: Average Yield of Wheat, Rice and Cotton in Punjab (Kg/ha)

Page | 28

Period Wheat Rice Cotton (in lint)

1967-68 to 1969-70 2095 1392 374

1971-72 to 1973-74 2279 2113 415

1974-75 to 1976-77 2400 2410 400

1977-78 to 1979-80 2683 2818 368

1981-82 to 1983-84 2985 3055 280

1985-86 to 1987-88 3346 3230 505

1990-91 to 1992-93 3762 3292 569

1993-94 to 1995-96 3995 3341 481

1996-97 to 1998-99 4134 3337 280

1998-99 to 2000-01 4530 3335 318

Source: Statistical Abstract of Punjab (various issues)xvii.

Table 4: Net Sown Area and Cropping Intensity

Year Net Sown Area (hectare) Cropping Intensity

1960-61 3757 126

1970-71 4053 140

1980-81 4191 161

1990-91 4218 178

1996-97 4234 185

2000-01 4264 186

Source: Statistical Abstract of Punjab (various issues).

Market Clearance Problems:

With the introduction of the Targeted Public Distribution System (TDPS) in 1997, the off take

of food grains (wheat-rice) has fallen considerably compared to the allocation. This has led to

building up of huge stocks of food grains with the government. Against the minimum norm of

23.3 million tonnes in July 1999, 42.2 million tonnes in July 2000, 61.7 million tonnes in July

2001 and 63.0 million tonnes in July 2002 (Government of India, 2002-03). This has put a

Page | 29

heavy financial burden on the exchequer along with cost of management and logistic efforts

for purchasing, handling, transportation and storage of these stocks. Under the new policy

regime, the government agencies have been entering late in procurement of food grains at the

MSP, causing procurement and market crisis in Punjabxviii. Punjab being the largest

contributor (46.72 per cent in 2001-02) to central stock faces immediate crisis as and when

procurement agencies show slackness in the market. This is reflected in the flooding of

market yards with food grains at the time of harvest and loud protests by farmers against the

procurement agencies. Farmers of the state have faced this situation every year for the last

many years. This has led, many times, to a situation when farmers sell their produce at a price

below the MSP. This has caused harm to farmers and lowered their income and added

uncertainty to future procurement. A message has spread that procurement of wheat and rice

is under threat.

The recommendation of the Sen Committee (July 2002) for the withdrawal of central agencies

from procurement and replacement of state agencies in North-Western states, along with

statements by Punjab Government spokespersons suggesting shifting crops away from wheat-

rice rotation (following submission of report by Chief Minister’s Advisory Committee on

Agriculture Policy and Restructuring in 2002), contributed to the impression that wheat-rice

crops are not needed in the state and future procurements, procurement price and market

clearance are in doubt. The uncertainty about procurement at the MSP for wheat and rice and

absence of any other viable cropping pattern, which would be equally remunerative, is a

source of resentment and unrest among the farmers. The farmers have tried sunflower

(oilseeds) vegetable and fruit cultivation in the past but failed due to problems of market

clearance. Livestock, the second major source of income for rural people, is facing problems

with stagnating prices of milk in face of rising cost of production. Further, degradation of the

environment has put a question mark on the sustainability of agriculture. The present cropping

pattern has put heavy pressure on the physical resources of the state. A resource that has been

strained the most is water for irrigation. Irrigation is the lifeline of agriculture of the state. But

the wheat-rice production system has created serious imbalance in the use of water resources.

The total demand for irrigation water in a year in the state is estimated at 4.377 million

hectare meters with existing technology and cropping pattern, against a total supply of 3.130

million hectare meters both from surface and annual recharge of groundwater sources. This is

Page | 30

leading to an annual deficit of 1.247 million (39.84 per cent) hectare meters (Sondhi and

Khepar, 1995). The over-exploitation of ground water resources through tube-wells has led to

falling of the water table at an alarming rate. The proportion of area with more than 10 meters

depth of water table increased from 12.7 per cent in 1973 to 29.8 per cent in 1996 and of 5-10

meters from 50.6 per cent to 56.1 per cent. There are only six blocks in Punjab which are

‘white’ as well as technically exploitable (Sidhu and Johl, 2002). Most of the area in the state

falls either in the ‘dark’ or ‘grey’ blocks. This is likely to cause major drinking water

problems both in rural as well as urban areas. With rivers getting polluted, canal water is

increasingly becoming unfit for drinking. On the other hand, South-West Punjab is facing

water logging due to greater supply of canal water, as ground water is saline.

The increased cropping intensity has over exploited the soil and lowered its fertility. Chemical

fertilizers are excessively used leading to greater use of basic elements of soil than what is

added. The low application of organic manure has reduced the organic carbon to a very low

level. Consequently, the soil has become poor in nitrogen (N). The same is the case with

phosphorous (P). The soil has also become deficit in such micro-nutrients as iron and

manganese. The area under forest cover is becoming alarmingly low (5.6 per cent)xix. Thus,

declining water resources, depleting quality of soil and degrading environment has put a

question mark on the present cropping pattern and system of farming. Apart from the rising

cost of production and falling incomes, the rural areas are likely to face new problems like

drinking water scarcity and stack of old and new disease patterns, the signs of which are

already visible in the state.

Suggestions:

The areas with high incidence of farmers and agricultural labourer suicides, especially

Sangrur (particularly Andana and Lehragaga blocks), Mansa and Bathinda (Rampura, Phul)

districts need special attention. It is well-known fact that areas around the Ghaggar River

have shown high proneness towards suicides. This is because of regular flooding of the areas

causing regular crop failure, leading to economic hardship and high indebtedness. At the

Page | 31

same time, this belt is also a cotton growing area. This crop has been facing devastating pest

attacks, largely uncontrolled by pesticides. An end to this would require control over the sale

of spurious pesticides on one hand and bio pest management on the other.

The whole of this regional belt is educationally the most backward in the state. As a long

term measure, educational infrastructure need to be strengthened and rural schools especially

must be made functional. It is not only literacy which matters but mean years of schooling

which is crucial. Higher educational attainments empower individuals to understand their

surroundings and change the environment favourably. The area is not only educationally

backward but lacks urban linkages especially employment opportunities compared to the area

around Amritsar-Delhi National Highway. Overall development of the region would require

an area development approach. The requirement is not merely for economic development, it

must be participatory in nature so as to distribute its benefits to the disadvantaged sections of

society. Without this type of development suicides among the poor peasants and agricultural

labourers cannot be controlled in the long run. In this task, social movements have a major

role to play. It is social movements and their pressure that can make governments attend to

the problem. Ultimately it is for civil society and the government to respond positively and

take preventive and curative measures.

Chapter 5

SIMILARITIES IN THEIR PROBLEMS

1. Repeated crop failure:

It is found that there has been repeated crop failure in the last four years. This crop failure has

resulted in a reduction in the productivity of the land due to a variety of reasons. These

Page | 32

reasons could be due overuse of fertilisers, pesticides and reliance on HYV seeds and now to

some extent on the genetically modified seeds such as the Bt. Cotton. Thus, the crop failure

becomes a cyclical phenomena and not a one-time occurrence. Heavy indebtedness is

spreading across the landholding patterns. In that context, the small and the medium-sized

cultivator is the most affected of the lot, though the large landholder in the rain-fed areas of

the state, too, is coming under strain.

Case: A male-headed household from middle caste background. This household had 12 acres

of land that has now been reduced to five acres of dry land. The farmer had to sell seven acres

of irrigated land to repay the loan he had undertaken. He also worked along with his wife as

agricultural labour. In the last five years, he had incurred a crop loan from formal financial

institutions to the tune of Rs. 10,000/-, an interest-free loan of Rs. 30,000/- from relatives, and

Rs. 5,000/- from private moneylenders. The family reported that there was a repeated crop

failure in the last three years prior to his death, non-availability of wage labour work, and zero

credit worthiness in the market. The liquor intake of the farmer had increased substantially in

the last three years prior to his suicide on 29.12.03. The government offered no compensation.

2. Inability to meet the rising cost of production:

Farmers have been spending more on fertilizers even while crop performance has been

showing a declining trend. On an average, returns to cultivation per farmer household is

Rs.11,259/- in 2002-03. To account for the drought in the said year even if one increases the

returns by one-third then also it would be less than Rs.15,000/-, which given a family size of

5.5 turns out to be less than eight rupees per capita per day. This means that other sources of

income would become necessary if the farmer household has to stay above the poverty line.

About 60 per cent and 10 per cent of farmer households obtain some returns from farm

animals and nonfarm business respectively and per farmer household monthly returns from

these are Rs.85/- and Rs.236/- respectivelyxx.

The below given diagram explains about the problems faced by the farmers in agriculture

field. The problems like scarcity of water available for irrigation, lack of knowledge about

latest technique due to illiteracy, lack of storage facility etc are some of the main problems

faced by the Indian farmers.

Page | 33

3. Indebtedness:

Indebtedness is the main cause of suicide among farmers. Due to host of reasons like, ranging

from a daughter's marriage to digging a well which eventually bore no water. The

consumption expenditure of marginal and small farmers exceeds their estimated income by a

substantial margin and presumably the deficits have to be plugged by borrowing or other

means. Increased indebtedness is a major cause for the spurt in farmers’ suicides during recent

times across a number of states, according a recent report of the National Commission for

Enterprises in the Unorganized Sector (NCEUS).

A marginal farmer is defined as one having landholding less than 2.5 acre and a small farmer

is defined as one having less than 5 acre. In India, a majority of the farmers are marginal and

small.

Page | 34

Incidence of indebtedness among farmer households was highest in Andhra Pradesh (82%),

followed by Tamil Nadu (75%) and Punjab (65%)xxi.

After the green revolution, agricultural activities have become cash-based individual

enterprises requiring high investment in modern inputs and wage labour as is evident from the

list of states with high incidence of farmers’ suicides, which are not necessarily backward or

predominantly agrarian or with low income, according to the NCEUS report.

“Increased liberalisation and globalisation have in fact led to a shift in the cropping pattern

from staple crop to cash crops like oilseeds and cotton, requiring high investment in modern

inputs and wage labour. This increases credit needs. But when the prices declined farmers

have no means to supplement their incomes,” the NCEUS report noted.

Another problem is that unlike industrialists, farmers do not have access to debt relief under

any law. Being indebted to the private moneylenders, they cannot go to public authorities to

declare themselves insolvent or to get any kind of debt relief.

Huge expenditure on children's education and sudden demand of money for health

considerations and marriage, etc. in the family are also major contributors for stress in

farming community. Inconsistency of rainfall during monsoon, absence of support mechanism

for marketing of agriculture produce also contributed to uncertainty and financial risk of the

farmers.

The latest NSSO (59th round) has made the following observation that, “an Indian farmer’s

household has an average debt of Rs.12,585.The Punjab farmers top the list with Rs.41,575

followed by Kerala with Rs,33,907, Haryana Rs.26,007, Andhra Rs.21965 and Tamil Nadu

Rs.21963”(Shiva, and Jalees, 2006: 58). In fact, Andhra Pradesh witnessed highest percentage

of farmers under indebtedness (82.0 per cent) followed by Tamil Nadu (74.5 per cent) and

Punjab (65.4 per cent). In Karnataka 61.6 percent of farmers are now indebtedxxii.

xxi Bt Cotton and Farmer Suicides in India International Food Policy Research Institute, Discussion Paper October 2008

xxii Retrieved from http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=32&ItemID=57 visited on March 25, 2009

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Nonetheless NSSO has made one more observation: more the amount of land, higher will be

the average loan outstanding. However, the NSSO data further clarified that percent of

indebted farmers taking loans from money lenders is highest (29 per cent), followed by Banks

(27 per cent), co-operative society (26 per cent) and finally from government (3 per cent).

Data of debt is given under the below table:

Table 1: Debt Farmer-wise (in Rs crore)

Source: Finance Minister speech

Table 2: Debt Bank-wise

Cooperative 55%

Commercial Banks 35%

Regional Rural Banks 10%

Table 3: Debt year-wise (in Rs crore)

xvi . Harish Nayyar and P. Ramaswamy, Globalization & Agricultural Marketting, Rawat Publication, Jaipur, 1995, p. 71

xvii G.S. Bhalla, 1998.xviiiJaydep Rath, Sudhanshu Sekhar Mishra, et al, Regional Rural Banks & Agricultural development, Dominent Publishers & Distributers, New Delhi, 2008

xix . Nayyar, Harish and P. Ramaswamy, Globalization & Agricultural Marketting, Rawat Publication, Jaipur, 1995

xx Bibek Debroy and Amir Ullah Khan, Enabling Agriculture Markets For The Small Indian Farmers. New Delhi, Bookwell, 2003.

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Small and Marginal Farmers 50524

One time settlement to other

farmers

9790

TOTAL 60314

From July, 2008 25,000

In Budget 2009-10 15,000

In Budget 2010-11 12,000

In Budget 2011-12 8,000

Total 60,000

Source: Finance Minister speech

4. Neglect of agricultural community in India:

The neglect of agriculture has put enormous pressure on farmers. Low yields, high input and

low market prices for agricultural produce have led to a vicious cycle of low income and

stagnation. Massive scaling down of public services, particularly in irrigation and agricultural

extension services, has dealt a blow to the sector. The distress in rural areas is reflected in

rising farm indebtedness and suicides in many countries, including China, India, Sri Lanka

and Thailand. The figures are tragic and astounding _ in India alone, almost 87,000 farmers

committed suicide between 2001 and 2005.

The Economic and Social Survey of Asia and the Pacific 2008 show that improving

agricultural labour productivity could have a profound impact on poverty reduction. For

example, raising the region's average agricultural labour productivity to the level seen in

Thailand would take 218 million people _ a third of the region's poor _ out of poverty.

India, China, Bangladesh and Indonesia would gain the most. Large gains in reducing poverty

are also possible through the comprehensive liberalisation of global agricultural trade, with

the potential to take another 48 million people out of poverty. Our research also shows that

raising productivity in agriculture will reduce income inequality significantly.

If more reasons were needed for our call to focus on agriculture, then one need only look at

the rising food prices that are being felt across the region. With the demand for biofuel

apparently unstoppable, the region needs a renewed and urgent effort to revive its agricultural

sector to increase food production and stop food prices from spiraling even further.

Escape’s survey shows that the strategy required making agriculture economically, socially

and ecologically viable and thus returning it to its rightful place in reducing poverty and

inequality is a straightforward onexxiii.

xxiii Retrieved from http://www.ftawatch.org/cgi-bin/content/newse/show.pl?0831 April 3, 2009

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These causes arose out of a larger picture of globalization & the resultant neglect of

agricultural community in India.

The rural poor account for around 70% of the poor in the Asia-Pacific region, and agriculture

is their main livelihood. Agriculture appears neglected, even though it still provides jobs for

60% of the working population and generates about a quarter of the region’s GDP. Growth

and productivity in agriculture are slowing, and the green revolution has bypassed millions. In

South Asia, growth in agriculture output dropped from 3.6% in the 1980s to 3.0% in 2000-

2003. Agricultural labour productivity has a significant impact on poverty reduction. ESCAP

estimates show that a 1% increase in agricultural productivity would lead to a 0.37% drop in

poverty in the Asia-Pacific region.

Agricultural labour productivity has a significant impact on poverty reduction. ESCAP

estimates show that a 1% increase in agricultural productivity would lead to a 0.37% drop in

poverty in the Asia-Pacific region.

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Therefore, a policy priority should be to revitalize agriculture. Revitalizing agriculture

requires connecting the poor to markets through improvements to rural infrastructure, the

availability and management of water, agricultural technology, increasing the capacity to

adapt technologies, and speeding up diversification and commercialization. It also requires

improving the distribution of land and the access to agricultural credit and extension - and

making macroeconomic policy friendlier to agriculture, all enabling the poor to make a dent

on poverty by themselves.

Chapter 6

REASONS FOR SUICIDE BY FARMERS:

1. Issue of inadequate and poor availability of credit facilities to the farmers :-

It has been observed that the financial Institutions mainly Nationalized Banks are not

providing credit facilities to farmers as per their actual needs. The scale of finance is

extremely discriminatory, it varies region to region. In Western Maharashtra, farmers are

getting upto Rs.2,00,000/- per Hectare Crop Credit, but in Vidarbha it is extremely poor, not

even Rs.10,000/- per Hectare. It is mockery of Credit Policy and Govt. Control thereonxxiv.

The reason for this is that banks are not carrying out the periodic review exercise for

increasing the scale of finance. In some cases it is observed that though the farmers are

eligible for increment in scale of finance, but it is not made available merely for the reason of

the extra staff / manpower for the purpose of documentation and credit papers at bank is not

provided by the Regional Offices of the Banksxxv. For want of such bank documentation and

paper works, the farmers are denied the fresh incremental loans/credit facilities even though

they are eligible for enhanced credit facilities. This is indirectly causing great hardships to the

farmers and they have been denied the enhanced scale of finance / credit facilities for the

failure of banks to revise the documentation or papers. Thus, inadequate and poor availability

of credit facilities to the farmers is the main reason of exploitation of the farmers’ community,

xxiv Taken from http://agrariancrisis.wordpress.com/category/vidharba-crisis/ April 4, 2009

xxv C.B. Mamoria and Badri Bishal Tripathi, Agriculture Problems of India, Allahabad, Kitab Mahal, 2007, p. 421

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as they approach private money lenders and sahukars, who all are charging exorbitant rate of

interest for such short term crop loan or credit made available to farmers. This is ultimately

resulting in the unfortunate incidents of farmers’ suicide across the Vidarbha Region.

REMEDY:

All the Nationalized banks be strictly advised or ordered to review the scale of finance and

accordingly have extra manpower / staff for documentation and for the paper work for

reviewing and revising the scale of finance and credit facilities to the farmers as per their

eligibility. The Banks be advised/instructed or ordered to make suitable computer software for

the purpose of assessment and documentation for providing the new scale of finance / credit

facilities to the farmers, which is being denied due to manual, lengthy, time killing and

labourious documentation system presently being implemented in the Banks and could not be

effectively made operational for want of staff and infrastructure in the Rural Sector Branches

of the Banks. The farmers who have been denied the new scale of finance be given additional

finances and credit facilities by extending the last date for such short term of loan. The forms

and formats for credit facilities to the farmers are revised in such way that the time consumed

in lengthy documentation can be avoided at the time of the review/revision of the credit limits

on account of enhancement in the scale of finance and it should be simple and easy to be

understood by farmers so that it would be advantage for farmers as well as banks. It is

unfortunate that the banks have not done computerization along with other infrastructures /

networking for the agricultural sector and as such the benefits arising out of the advantages of

new generation techniques / networking is being denied to the farmers especially in the Rural

Vidarbha.

JADHAV COMMITTEExxvi has accepted the suggestion given by the VJASxxvii and

recommended that all the nationalized banks be strictly advised / ordered to review the scale

of finance and accordingly have extra manpower and staff for documentation and for the

xxvi The Narendra Jadhav Committee was set up to study rising cases of farmers' suicides in Vidharbha

xxvii Vidarbha Janandolan Samiti- a farmers organization

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paper work for reviewing and revising the scale of finance or credit facilities to the farmers as

per their eligibility.

2. Issue of support price of cotton to be enhanced to Rs. 3,000/- per quintal:

It has been found that the rate of cotton has not been increased as compared to the cost of

input. It is not viable to sell cotton below Rs.3,000/- per quintal but since the support price is

very less, the cotton purchasing agencies are not giving any rise and the rates are maintained

just to the level of Rs.2,100/- per quintal maximum even though the national / international

market rates are much abovexxviii. The increment in the minimum support price to the level of

Rs. 3,000/- per quintal alongwith monopoly guaranteed cotton purchase scheme is the

effective need of the hour. The farmers need support of the price as well as guaranteed

purchase scheme other wise market players will exploit them and the unfortunate incidents of

farmers suicides will continue unending and our civilized country will face an awkward

position in the world and for this our government has to take immediate and effective steps.

REMEDY:

The minimum support price of the cotton should be increased immediately to Rs. 3,000/- per

quintal. State Controlled Centers should be started immediately to purchase cotton from

farmers, from the first day & date of arrival of cotton crop to avoid exploitation of the farmers

at the hands of Private Players in the Cotton Trade.

It is relevant to place on record that Government of India has increased and enhanced the

support price to wheat to make it Rs. 1000/- per quintal by giving 40% hike this year xxix. The

same rationale and equity principle may please be adopted for the Cotton Cultivating Farmers

in the Vidarbha Region as a Special Case, in view of the unpresented crisis being faced by the

farmers.

xxviii R.M.Mohan Rao, suicides Among Farmers: A study of cotton grower, New Delhi, Concept Publishing company, 2004

xxix D. Narasimha Reddy and Srijit Mishra, Agrarian Crisis in India, Oxford University Press, New Delhi, 2009, p. 315

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JADHAV COMMITTEE has accepted the suggestion given by the VJAS and recommended

that the minimum support price of the cotton be increased immediately to Rs. 3,000/- per

quintal. State Controlled Cotton Procurement Centers be started immediately from the first

day & date of arrival of cotton crop to avoid exploitation of the farmers at the hands of Private

Players in the Cotton Trade.

3. Issue of uncontrolled & unrestricted sale of bogus & duplicate seeds:

It has been observed that bogus & duplicate seeds being sold to poor and illiterate farmers due

to Non implementation by the Govt. of Maharashtra of the Seed Control Order, 1983 issued

under Sec. 3 of Essential Commodities Act, 1955 to arrest and control the big wig seed trades

and manufacturers. This massive corruption in sale of duplicate & bogus seeds has resulted in

cheating of the farmer and increasing of debt due to improper farm yield because of poor and

bogus quality of seeds being sold freely due to apathy of State Government. This has

indirectly resulted the unfortunate suicide of the farmers who lost their crops due to poor

quality of seeds being provided to them in lack of proper administrative control by the

agriculture department quality & input of the seeds which otherwise could have been possible

due to the stringent provisions contended in the Seed Control Order, 1983 Of Essential

Commodities Act, 1955 if implemented in its true spirit & meaning. This failure on a part of

State of Maharashtra to control the quality & input of seeds is one of the prime cause for the

overall cheating and exploitation of the poor and illiterate farmers residing in the villages.

REMEDY:

For immediate control of quality & input of seeds, it is the need of the hour that the states

should be ordered by Central Government to implement the provisions of seed control order

1983 and to instruct to issue delegation of power to its inspecting officer for control of quality

& input seeds as required under sec. 12 of the seed control order of essential commodities act,

1955 which is the prime tool for the control of quality & input of seeds.

JADHAV COMMITTEE has accepted the suggestion given by the VJAS and recommended

that the state of Maharashtra be ordered by union of India to implement the provisions of seed

control order 1983 and to instruct to issue delegation of power to its inspecting officer for

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control of quality & input seeds as required under sec. 12 of the seed control order of essential

commodities act, 1955 which is the prime tool for the control of quality & input of seeds.

4 .Issue of high cost of Bt. cotton seeds:

It has also been observed that the farmers are not being given proper advice and training by

the Government of Maharashtra in Department of Agriculture since last several years. The

costly and improper BT cotton seeds which are not suitable for dry land farming is being

freely propagated and sold at a very high cost of Rs. 2000/- to Rs. 3600/- Per Kg of BT cotton

seeds, cost of which is virtually killing the farmers due to high input cost and low yield.

REMEDY:

There must be the blanket ban on BT cotton seeds in the dry land farming and rain fed areas.

This has to be done immediately in order to save the farmers from undue exploitation and

cheating. There must be ban on sale and misleading advertisement of BT cotton seeds in the

dry land areas of Maharashtra where such seeds are not useful for cultivation of cotton due to

the high cost of input as compared to the yield. The so called upgrade technology is killing the

farmers. Immediate steps may be initiated by the Union of India in this regard to stop free

trials and sales of GM and BT seeds to protect the farmer community at large.

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Chapter 7

PROGRESS IN LEGAL FIELD

1. PIL:

Expressing concern over suicide by hundreds of farmers, an advocate has filed a public

interest litigation petition seeking the intervention of the Supreme Court. Sanjeev Bhatnagar,

who is also an agricultural economist, said that in the last five years over 10,000 farmers had

killed themselves, and Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Kerala were the worst

affected. Farmers in various States were ending their lives unable to repay loans. Prime

Minister Shri Manmohan Singh admitted that farmers had not been given a fair price for their

produce and this resulted in their indebtedness, the petitioner said. The Union Government

and the States concerned were under a constitutional obligation to ensure the survival of

farmers. The Government's planning was lacking in concern for the farmers, who were

virtually left at the mercy of private moneylenders coupled with the vagaries of nature. The

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petitioner said the families of farmers, who committed suicide, needed immediate care and

redress by way of condoning loan repayment.

It was ordered by the Court that experts should probe lapses in execution of farm policy.

2. Vidarbha Farmer Suicide Case:

Public Interest Litigation was filed by Vidarbha Jan Andolan Samiti, President, Shri Kishore

Tiwari at Nagpur Bench of Bombay High Court on increasing of suicide rate in Maharashtra.

The Houn’ble High Court expressed its great concern on the entire crisis and recorded that

there was much hue & cry about the mismanagement of the various packages, hence the

respondent State has appointed a one man Committee consisting of Dr. Narendra Jadhav –

The Vice Chancellor, Pune University, Pune to verify that the packages are properly executed

and to suggest the remedial measures for better implementation of the packages.

High Court also ordered govt. to file detailed affidavit on the scheme of farmers loan waiver

of rs. 71,000 crores as how far it is benefited to the vidarbha farmers in distress and also order

to table Dr. Narendra Jadhav committee report regarding implementation of package schemes

for farmers in crisis.

3. Akola Case:

A case was filed in Akola District Court by a debt-ridden farmer against 15 high profile

persons including UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi and Union Minister for Agriculture Sharad

Pawar. According to reports, the farmer, Dilip Ghatole, has held Sonia Gandhi and 15 others

responsible for formulating such policies which led to the untimely and tragic death of his

father Shaligram Ghatole. Shaligram, a cotton farmer, ended his life in October 2007, as he

could not repay his loans. While moving a petition in the Akola district court, the petitioner

said that the present UPA government was responsible for his father’s death. Ghatole’s lawyer

Prakash Ambedkar said that a large section of farmers were suffering due to the government’s

import policy, which prevents them from getting a good price for their cotton. Dilip and his

mother Kaushalyabai are facing extreme hardship in meeting the day-to-day requirements of

their family, as Shaligram Ghatole left behind a crushing debt of over Rs one lakh.

However, the opposition lawyer, who seems to be less worried over the petition, says that the

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government policy cannot be challenged in this court. It has to be raised in Parliament or in

the Supreme Court.

The next hearing of the case is on September 26.

Chapter 8

SUGGESTIONS

Along with the suggestions given above for the respective State, there are certain other steps

also which can be undertaken by the Government to prevent such type of accident in future..

They are:

Enhance the physical interaction between government functionaries and village society

by insisting on more tours, night halts and gram sabhas by officers at all levels of the

administration. This, we feel is the absolute key to resolving many of the issues. The

number of points of direct contact between the government and the farmer need to be

increased.

Actively monitor local society, especially farmers, for signs of social, economic and

psychological distress and if possible provide social, psychological or spiritual

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counselling. Alternately, the need is to set up systems that would ensure such monitoring

and counselling on a regular and routine basis.

Implement with some rigour the various provisions that already exist to safeguard the

interests of the farmer and farm workers for example, the existing money lending act,

minimum wage act etc. in case needed, these acts could be modified to remove existing

loopholes. Already moneylenders are talking of a code for self-regulation, but

government functionaries at the field level need to be more pro-active in this regard.

Increase the efficiency of agriculture extension activities. This includes spreading

knowledge about improved ways of cultivation, including responsible use of appropriate

type of seeds, fertilizers, pesticides etc., checking the quality of farm inputs and reliable

professional advice during times of trouble, like when a sowing fails or the crop is

infested with pests or the land is visited upon by a drought or excess rainfall.

Increase efficiency of various services that are delivered by the government in the name

of people’s welfare at the moment. Namely, improve the functioning of local

government hospitals that already exist, increase the number of Primary Health Centres,

and provide better roads.

People here need immediate succor and not just sensitization about sanitation, safe

drinking water, nutrition and family planning in the name of sensitization one cannot any

more condone the absence of a basic functional health care system in the villages. Each

Panchayat needs at least one trained medical nurse who can provide such immediate

succour and guide the people to a suitable health provider in times of illness. The issue is

serious enough to be treated in the same way as we did the abolition of the Zamindari

system: with adequate political and administrative will. It might help to make suitable

regulations to this effect in the manner of regulations for Zamindari abolition.

Regulations per se do not bring about a change, but they do open up a door for

empowering people and focusing energies. The health workers salary should come from

government funds but be paid by the local people thus ensuring that s/he is accountable

to the local people in the same way that a salaried employee is.

For the long-term change, it is important to improve the condition of school education

and provide appropriate vocational education, at least at the village and taluka level to

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enable the people to understand and utilise, for their own benefit, the complexities of

present day production and marketing techniques.

An important mechanism in generating a suicide epidemic is the constant highlighting of

instances of suicide. Therefore, it is important to counsel the media to stop highlighting

suicide since the fact of highlighting suicide itself adds fuel to the suicide fire as it were.

The ex gratia payment to families of those who commit suicide should be stopped. A

victim of suicide should not be treated at par with the victims of other foreseen

happenings. A family that has lost its breadwinner does need some government and

social assistance to overcome the material loses that follow the tragedy. However, the

help needs to be in some other form. One way could be by providing employment to a

member of the family or help in setting up of a small business.

Provide direct cash subsidies to actual cultivators. We have hitherto provided indirect

subsidies the benefit of which seldom seems to reach the farmer. A direct subsidy would

help the actual cultivator substantially in overcoming minor jinxes in life. It will also

ensure a minimum assured income for the actual cultivator.

Chapter 9

CONCLUSION

Evolutionary-psychology literature argues that a sense of burdensomeness towards kin/family

may encourage suicide by eroding the motive of self preservation. It suggests that perceived

liability towards one’s family is a precursor of suicide. Renowned psychologist, Cialdini

points out that people, by committing suicide, believe that they are helping others to

counteract their own negative affective state. In the Indian farmer’s context, policy makers are

arguing that this negative state is that of indebtedness. But then loan waivers and cash

supports are aggravating this problem because they provide the farmers with the incentive to

make this ‘rational’ decisionxxx. Perhaps these short sighted measures are having the exact

opposite effect. They are probably sending out the wrong signal to millions of distressed

xxx Mudit Kapoor and Shamika Ravi, Farmer Suicide Contagion, Indian School of Business, Hyderabad 25/10/2007

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farmers who are struggling to make ends meet. The government response to the crisis of

farmer suicide has been simplistic and in some cases perhaps aggravating. The main problem

with offering ‘special packages’ to deal with such a problem is that it is reactionary rather

than pre-emptive long term policy. Suicides are characterized by a prior history of difficulties

and perhaps also mental illness that renders the person vulnerable to suicidal behaviour.

Suicide is caused by many factors even when it occurs in a cluster. Therefore it is crucial to

avoid oversimplification of causes and sensationalizing the issue. This requires responsible

and sensitive reporting by the media. The policy implication from the above-discussion calls

for an emphasis on the larger crisis; that of low returns and declining profitability from

agriculture and that of poor non-farm opportunities. Risk management in agriculture should

address yield, price, credit, income or weather related uncertainties among others. Improving

water availability will facilitate diversification of cropping pattern, but this should go hand in

hand with policies that increase non-farm employment

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Improving agricultural extension that addresses deskilling because of technological changes

and also facilitates appropriate technical know-how for alternative forms of cultivation such

as organic farming will be of help. Availability of affordable credit requires revitalisation of

the rural credit market. There is also a strong case for regulating private credit and input

markets. A challenge for the technological and financial gurus is to provide innovative

products that reduce costs while increasing returns. Organising farmers through a federation

of self-help groups (SHGs) with government, banks and other stakeholders playing a pro-

active role would be welcome. Besides, public institutions, there is need for a greater

involvement from the civil society.

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SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY:

The study has utmost significance in today’s age of capitalitism. Almost every day we read in

the newspaper about the suicides of the farmers. As a law student it is our duty to find out the

root cause of the problem. By this project report we came across the harsh reality of

agricultural field. India is a agrarian economy then also the farmers are underestimated and

are not provided with the facilities they need like water for irrigation , electricity, good quality

of seeds etc. while working on the project we got the real position of farmers and their

problems.

METHODOLOGY OF RESEARCH:

1. Doctrinal research:

In this project we have done library research/ doctrinal research. We found various books and

articles on the topic and done a detailed study on the problems of farmers.

5. Case study method:

In this project we have referred some cases which show the reality of the farmers’ life. We

consulted various books and articles on internet for the cases. We also study some Supreme

Court Journals to find out recent case laws on suicide on farmers and then study the case law

to get the attitude of judiciary towards the farmers.

6. Comparative study:

In this project we have done a detailed study on three States i.e., Maharashtra, Karnataka and

Punjab. We study the problems of each State and compare their problems with each other. We

work on similarities of their problems and gave suggestions for them.

FINDINGS:

1. Growth rate in agriculture has declined:

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After the detailed study we have analysed the developments in agriculture across various

parameters- overall growth, investment, productivity etc. Whichever way one looks at the

sector, the story is the same, decline in growth. The reports of various committees says the

crisis is pretty severe after 1990s post reforms; the growth rate of agriculture has decelerated

noticeably during the post reform period 1990-91 to 2003-04 as compared to the period 1980-

81 to 1990- 91. The slowing down and stagnation of agricultural growth has adversely

affected the income and employment of vast majority of rural people dependent on

agriculture.

It may be emphasized that a major objective of the economic reforms was to initiate policies

that would end discrimination against agriculture and improve its terms of trade vis-à-vis

other sectors of the economy. The whole set of macro-economic policies such as devaluation

of the currency, ending of protection to industry were all expected to benefit tradable

agriculture. But this has not happened.

2. Migration to non-agricultural sectors has not happened:

The non-agricultural income is greater than agricultural income for all states (All India

average of ratio non-agricultural income to agricultural income is 4.97). The incomes are

higher in non-agricultural sector but unfortunately people have not been able to move from

agricultural sector to non-agricultural sector. This aspect has been widely discussed in our

previous report (Indian Economy - Need to shift focus to Growth with Employment; 30

November 2007). The main reason has been that Indian economy has leapfrogged into the

services sector and services sector requires people to have some skill-set. The solution is to

develop policies to promote labor-intensive manufacturing sector.

3. Expansion in rural credit has expanded in institutional category:

The report says that source of credit to agriculture sector has shifted from non-institutional

category (moneylenders etc) to institutional category but still the percentage of former is still

quite high. Moreover the share of non-institutional and moneylenders has increased between

1991-2002. This is because the policy of rural branch expansion was done away in 1990s.

Another point to note is that the share of commercial banks in rural credit has increased and is

almost at par with cooperative banks.

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LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY:

1. Official websites are not updated:

Official website of agriculture department is not updated. They are last updated two-three

years before. Due to this reason data we have collected are not up-to-date.

2. Scarcity of time:

The scope of the topic is very wide. One cannot cover all the dimensions of the topic in

such a paucity of time. For a detailed research, researcher has to give time for detailed

study of the phenomenon of suicide and its reasons which varied from region to region.

3. Scarcity of fund:

Field work is required for the successful completion of this project. But due to scarcity of

fund and time, it was not possible.

4. Scope is too wide.

Suicide among farmers is a wide topic which includes psychological, social, economic

reasons which results in the suicide among the farmers. Due to this reason it is not

possible to cover all these aspects of suicide in such a limited period of time.

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ENDNOTES

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