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13
October 2010
With National Crime
Records Bureau (NCRB) as the sole official source of farmers’ suicide
data, the figures reported by different authorities varied. Responding to the number of farmers’
suicide in Vidarbha since January 2010, while the Union Agriculture Minister,
Sharad Pawar, informed the Rajya Sabha (the upper house of the Parliament of
India) on 7 May 2010 that there were just six cases, Chief Minister of
Maharashtra, Ashok Chavan, reported the figure of 343 and Agriculture
Minister of Maharashtra K.V. Thomas counted at 23.
For the figure of farmers’
suicide in the period of 2006-2009, once again, different authorities cited
different figures. Union Agriculture
Minister has claimed 3,450 cases for the whole country; while Maharashtra
Revenue Minister Narayan Rane reported 5,574 cases in Vidarbha only, with
7,786 cases for the whole country.
It was found that while
gathering statistics for farmers’ suicide, many cases were omitted, for
example, land entitlement of Dalits, Adivasis and women were denied, young
people were not registered as land owner yet in the official department. In other words, therefore some of the peasants
who lost their lives because of poor climate and inappropriate policies were
not counted.
According to local news
report, the Union Agriculture Ministry even create new categories of
“Eligible” and “ineligible” suicides. Only the former would be counted as
“farmers’ suicide”. “Now we can't even commit suicide in
peace,” a neighbour of a farmer who has committed suicide in Malaga said. There are some 40 clauses on the inquiry
list the suicide would be eligible and be compensated only if all the clauses
were complied.
The controversial figure
of farmers’ suicide has raised concern whether the Indian governments
were able to understand the real trend of farmers’ suicide and hence
handle the situation. Moreover, the
credibility of NCRB has also been criticized.
Ministries of state have started citing research conducted by academic
institute instead of the NCRB.
There has been a trend
that peasants committed suicide due to the extreme poverty, since the
Government changed it policy in agricultural sector in the mid
90’s. ACPP issued UA041008(9) in October 2004 and UA060815(6) in August 2006, to urge
the central government to take immediate action to alleviate the farmers'
predicament and establish concrete measures to prevent the widespread of
farmer suicide.
Source:
the Hindu
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26
August 2008
Following
the announcement of loan waiver for small and marginal farmers by the Chief
Minister of Maharashtra, as announced in the
Budget of February 2008, Finance Minister P. Chidambaram directed the public
sector banks to furnish the list of farmer beneficiaries of the debt relief
scheme by 25 June 2008. Finance Minister wanted to ensure that the loan
waiver programme is completed by the month-end deadline and asked the banks
to ensure that the certificates and undertakings of the debt waiver be
provided to farmers in their languages.
The debt relief program under the Budget package is expected to benefit
40,000,000 small and marginal farmers. To ensure that farmers in
dryland areas could also benefit, the size of the loan waiver was raised from
Rs 600,000 million to Rs 716,800 million (or USD 17,920 million).
Hotline Asia has been following the issue of suicide of farmers in India for
several years. UA041008(9) was issued in October 2004 to urge the
authorities to implement timely resources and proper preventive strategies to
address the situation. The situation and plight of farmers in different
states of India
was also highlighted. In August 2006, UA060815(6) was issued in
response to the situation in Vidarbha region of Maharashtra.
Sources: The Hindu
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02
April 2008
According to the Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh, about 2,500,000 small
and marginal farmers in Maharashtra, the
worst hit by suicides, will benefit from the loan waiver announced in the
Union Budget presented in February 2008. However the cotton farmers in
Vidarbha are disappointed with the criteria for the loan waiver as the condition
stipulates that only farmers with less than two hectares of land are
eligible. In the eastern region of the Maharashtra
state there is practically no farmer who owns less than two hectares. These
villages happen to have the highest number of suicides since 2006.
According to the criteria, only 400,000 of the estimated 1,700,000
cotton-growing households in this region will get complete waivers. While
some farmers with farms larger than two hectares will also see their loan
reduced, the reductions generally are not enough to make substantial
improvements to their lives.
In October 2004, in view of the increase in number of peasant suicides in India,
Hotline Asia issued UA041008(9) to advocate for a one-year moratorium on debt
repayments by farmers and provisions for delayed insurance payments.
Sources:
The Hindu
Hindustan Times
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31
July 2007
The suicide of farmers in the district of Wayanad in Kerala State
continues, although the number is gradually decreasing. Meanwhile, Caritas India has
accepted the proposal of the NGO Consortium under the leadership of Kerala
Social Service Forum – the “Save Farmers Campaign” will be
officially launched by the consortium on 8 August 2007. “Befriending
Training Programs,” a counseling program with involvement based on the
situation of human rights violation, will be organized for selected persons
from the all Panchayats (administration units) of Wayanad district, aimed to
help identify, support and strengthen farmers in distress, as well as provide
income generating programs and advocacy measures. Further, the Consortium has
also requested the Prime Minister to visit Wayanad district.
Hotline Asia issued UA041008(9) in
2004 to urge the authorities to provide timely resources and implement proper
preventive strategies to redress the farmers situation. For background of the
situation in Kerala, Maharashtra and Andhra
Pradesh, please refer to the UA and subsequent Updates.
Sources:
Local newspapers
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29
September 2006
In July, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh announced a more than US$ 400
million package to be provided in a one time grant, with interest waived and
a 1 year moratorium on re-payment.
Meanwhile, impoverished farmers from Dhamangaon, Maharashtra 200 km Northeast
of Mumbai, have written to the president of India seeking permission to kill
themselves due to losses in crops year after year.
More than 3,600 cotton farmers have reportedly committed suicide in 4
southerm states of Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Karnataka and Maharashtra
over the past 5 years.
Meanwhile, in Kerala, although various enquiry commissions from the Central
Government have visited the district of Wayanad in the past few months,
reports of daily suicides continue. The most recent visit was by the Central
Agricultural Minister, Mr. Sharath Pawar, scheduled on 12 September, who had
previously promised to announce a package within one month. It was also
reported that the Kerala state government had promised to appoint a Debt
Relief Commission to settle the cases of the farmers, but this is not yet
implemented.
In response, local groups like Neethi Vedhi and the Wayanad Press Club
organized a workshop on the issue of the suicide of farmers and the role of
media to urge media personnel to highlight the issues compelling the farmers
to commit suicide and to respect international standards while reporting.
For background of the situation of farmers’ suicide in India,
please refer to UA041008(9) which Hotline Asia issued in 2004 to urge the
authorities to provide timely resources and implement proper preventive
strategies to redress the situation.
Sources:
Local newspapers
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31
July 2006
There was little improvement in the situation of farmers’ suicide in
Wayanad, Kerala. The previous government was ready to grant exemption from
paying interest rate only for loans taken from state cooperative banks, which
did not help much. The present ruling Communists Party had previously
promised that all loans by farmers would be waived, but it was not
implemented.
Meanwhile, the state government of Kerala has taken steps to get assistance
from the Central government and the Prime Minister who has promised to visit
the state, raising expectations from farmers to improve their situation. It
was the first time for a head of government to tour the region five years
after the trend of farmers' suicide has increased to 1,500 within the period.
Recently, the state government did a door-to-door survey and found over one
fourth of the farmers are living under stress due to agricultural reasons.
Fresh loans were promised to farmers at the rate of 6% but they continue to
suffer due to delayed monsoon which is holding up sowing operations.
At the end of June 2006, eight more cases of suicides were reported from
different parts of Vidharba, Maharashtra
state, taking the toll to 51 in June and 591 since June 2005. One of the most
recent case involved outstanding dues of Rs 13,000. In Wardha an activist
reported that a farmer family was given compensation a few hours before the
governor’s visit.
Hotline Asia issued UA041008(9) in October 2004 to express concern over the
increase of farmers suicide, particularly in Wayanad district of Kerala
state, Vidharba region of Maharashtra state, as well as the states of Andhra
Pradesh and Karnataka, and to urge the authorities to implement timely
resources and proper preventive strategies to redress the situation.
Sources:
Local newspapers
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30
May 2006
Hotline Asia issued UA041008(9) in
October 2004 to express concern over the increase in number of peasant
suicides in the country and to urge the authorities to implement timely
resources and proper preventive strategies to redress the situation.
In the recent election in Kerala state held from April to early May 2006, one
representative each of 2 farmers’ organization, Farmers Relief Forum
(FRF) and INFARM, competed for the Legislative Assembly. Although they did
not win, they have obtained 11,000 and 3,000 votes respectively. Local groups
are hoping that the new government will take up some immediate measure to
resolve the issue.
Local groups also raised concern that the government has not been acting
enough to enforce check for importing agriculture products from other
countries. As farmers are not big voters, it is commonly understood that
these political parties are not keen to resolve their problem.
For more information about the issues surrounding the widespread suicide in
various states in India,
please refer to the UA.
Sources:
Local source
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26
January 2006
According to an independent investigation commissioned by the central
government, main reason for the large amount of farmer suicides in Vidharbha,
the north-eastern region of Maharashtra
state was debts. Other reasons include breakdown of formal credit structures,
lack of irrigation, absence of government extension services, unfavorable
cost- benefit ratio of the crop, options for cash crops being limited to
cotton and soyabean and poor public intervention. The investigation was
carried out by Mumbai's Indira Gandhi Institute for Development Research
(IGIDR).
The report also highlights the loopholes in the criteria for government aid
of one hundred thousand Rupees to the family in cases of suicide. Only in 20
% of such families receives aid. "It is often denied on the ground that
the farmer was not the owner of the land and the difficulty in verifying the
informal loan / restricting loan as a cause that there was harassment for
repayment."
Another source revealed that farm suicides in Vidarbha since 1 November have
crossed the 100 mark, reaching 200 since 2 June 2005. 100 of them were
recorded in the last 2 months of 2005. Mr. Vijay Jawandia, Vidarbha's leading
farm activist observed that the huge increase was "no surprise"
since "the rise in suicides has followed the fall in cotton price."
In December 2005, the Maharashtra Government announced a relief package in
the Assembly session at Nagpur.
The new package has scrapped the advance subsidy of Rs 550 starting 2006. Mr.
Vijay Jawandia commented that this was because "There was no (Rs 550
advance subsidy) package. It's mostly farmers' money." Over a third of
the package is simply the farmer's own money: some Rs 3,700 milion has come
from the "capital formation fund" of the Cotton Federation.
Under the new package, this amount of money was to be returned to the
farmers. Yet, it will make things difficult for both the Federation and
farmers: without that sum, the Federation will have more difficulty to raise
loans from the banks, reducing its ability to purchase from the farmers at
the minimum support price. Cotton growers are thus pushed into selling to
private traders at prices as low as Rs 1500 per 100 kg.
Some communities have proved being more innovative than the government.
Farmers of Dorli village in Wardha district have put up signs announcing
their whole village was for sale.
The nationwide and drastic increase in farmer suicide has prompted Hotline
Asia to issue UA041008(9) in late 2004. The UA urged the central government
to take immediate action to prevent the situation from worsening.
Sources:
Local source
Indian Express
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31
January 2005
The Bombay High Court had taken the situation of debt ridden farmers into
public interest litigation (PIL). Chief Justice of the Bombay High Court had
converted the case into a PIL, upon receiving the letter from two
petitioners: Mr. Satya Pal Anand, an Indore
based farmer, and Mr. VB Karmarkar, a retired government officer.
Chief Justice D S Bhandari and Justice Dhananjay Chandrachud of the Bombay
High Court directed the district judges of Jalna, Pharbani and Bheed, where
the deaths have mainly occurred, to gather facts about the reasons that drove
the farmers to suicide. The court also directed the Maharashtra Chief
Secretary to file an affidavit of the situation by 11 January when the matter
was scheduled to be heard again.
Petitioner, Mr. Anand, argues that the occurrence of 265 deaths is a
violation of Articles 21 and 14 of the Constitution which grant protection to
life through reasonable, fair and just action by the state and central
government.
Owing to the widespread farmers suicide in late 2004, Hotline Asia had issued
UA041008(9) to
request the central government to take immediate action to prevent the
situation from worsening.
Sources:
Local Source
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