Chapter: National Issues

Topic: Some States Fight the Trend but …

Q. The Status of farm Suicides in India?

Ans.

• NCRB data show Andhra Pradesh has seen the second worst increase in farm suicides among all States (after Maharashtra) over the last eight years for which data exist.

• However, five States did manage a significant decline in the average number of farm suicides each year between 2003 and 2010.

• Karnataka is amongst the worst five States which account for nearly two-thirds of farm suicides in the country. Karnataka remains the second worst State for farm suicides (in absolute numbers) after Maharashtra. It has seen 35,053 farmers kill themselves since 1995.

• West Bengal pulled off the biggest decline among all States. Its 2003-10 average is 436 lower than its figure for 1995-2002.

• The yearly average of farm suicides in Andhra Pradesh in this period was 711 higher than it was in 1995-02. In Maharashtra, the figure was 1,294 higher. Manipur’s average for 1995-2002 was one farm suicide.

• Tripura brought down its annual average by 90 in the second half, a drop of 78 per cent. The decline Kerala has managed (-221) is in many ways the most significant one.

• Across India, suicides amongst cash crop farmers are far higher than those amongst food crop growers. Cash crop farmers run far greater risks, incur much higher cultivation costs, and have to borrow a lot more money than their food crop-growing counterparts.

• Overall, 15 of 28 States showed worse averages in the second eight years. Across the entire 16 years from 1995-2010, more than a quarter of a million Indian farmers have committed suicide.

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