Farmers' suicides in India

A group bringing attention to farmer suicide issue.

In 2014, the National Crime Records Bureau of India reported 5,650 farmer suicides.[1] The highest number of farmer suicides were recorded in 2004 when 18,241 farmers committed suicide.[2] The farmers suicide rate in India has ranged between 1.4 to 1.8 per 100,000 total population, over a 10-year period through 2005.[3]

India is an agrarian country with around 60% of its people depending directly or indirectly upon agriculture. Farmer suicides account for 11.2% of all suicides in India.[1] Activists and scholars have offered a number of conflicting reasons for farmer suicides, such as monsoon failure, high debt burdens, genetically modified crops, government policies, public mental health, personal issues and family problems.[4][5][6] There are also accusation of states fudging the data on farmer suicides.[7]

History

Historical records relating to frustration, revolts and high mortality rates among farmers in India, particularly cash crop farmers, date back to the 19th century.[8][9][10] The high land taxes of 1870s, payable in cash regardless of the effects of frequent famines on farm output or productivity, combined with colonial protection of usury, money lenders and landowner rights, contributed to widespread penury and frustration among cotton and other farmers, ultimately leading to Deccan Riots of 1875-1877.[10][11] The British government enacted the Deccan Agriculturists’ Relief Act in 1879, to limit the interest rate charged by money lenders to Deccan cotton farmers, but applied it selectively to areas that served British cotton trading interests.[10][12] Rural mortality rates, in predominantly agrarian British India, were very high between 1850 to 1940s.[13][14] However starvation related deaths far exceeded those by suicide, the latter being officially classified under "injuries".[15] Death rate classified under "injuries", in 1897, was 79 per 100,000 people in Central Provinces of India and 37 per 100,000 people in Bombay Presidency.[16]

Ganapathi and Venkoba Rao analyzed suicides in parts of Tamil Nadu in 1966. They recommended that the distribution of agricultural organo-phosphorus compounds be restricted.[17] Similarly, Nandi et al. in 1979 noted the role of freely available agricultural insecticides in suicides in rural West Bengal and suggested that their availability be regulated.[18] Hegde studied rural suicides in villages of northern Karnataka over 1962 to 1970, and stated the suicide incidence rate to be 5.7 per 100,000 population.[19] Reddy, in 1993, reviewed high rates of farmer suicides in Andhra Pradesh and its relationship to farm size and productivity.[20]

Reporting in popular press about farmers' suicides in India began in mid 1990s, particularly by Palagummi Sainath.[21] In 2000s, the issue gained international attention and a variety of Indian government initiatives.[22][23]

National Crime Records Bureau, an office of the Ministry of Home Affairs Government of India, has been collecting and publishing suicide statistics for India since the 1950s, as annual Accidental Deaths & Suicides in India reports. It started separately collecting and publishing farmers suicide statistics from 1995.[24]

Responses to farmers' suicides

The government appointed a number of inquiries to look into the causes of farmers suicide and farm related distress in general. Krishak Ayog (National Farmer Commission) visited all suicide prone farming regions of India, then in 2006 published three reports with its recommendations.[25] Subsequently former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh visited Vidarbha in 2006 and promised a package of ₹110 billion (about $2.4 billion). The families of farmers who had committed suicide were also offered an ex gratia grant of ₹100,000 (about $2,000) by the government, though this amount was changed several times.[26]

2006 relief package

In 2006, the Government of India identified 31 districts in the four states of Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Karnataka, and Kerala with high relative incidence of farmers suicides.[27] A special rehabilitation package was launched to mitigate the distress of these farmers. The package provided debt relief to farmers, improved supply of institutional credit, improved irrigation facilities, employed experts and social service personnel to provide farming support services, and introduced subsidiary income opportunities through horticulture, livestock, dairying and fisheries. The Government of India also announced an ex-gratia cash assistance from Prime Ministers National Relief Fund to the farmers. Additionally, among other things, the Government of India announced:[27]

Agricultural debt waiver and debt relief scheme, 2008

The Government of India next implemented the Agricultural debt Waiver and Debt Relief Scheme in 2008 to benefit over 36 million farmers at a cost of ₹653 billion (US$9.6 billion). This spending was aimed at writing of part of loan principal as well as the interest owed by the farmers. Direct agricultural loan by stressed farmers under so-called Kisan Credit Card were also to be covered under this Scheme.[28]

Regional initiatives

Various state governments in India have launched their own initiatives to help prevent farmer suicides. The government of Maharashtra set up a dedicated group to deal with farm distress in 2006 known as the Vasantrao Naik Sheti Swavlamban Mission, based in Amravati.[29] A group to study the Farmers Suicides was also constituted by the Government of Karnataka under the Chairmanship of Dr Veeresh, Former Vice-Chancellor of Agricultural University and Prof Deshpande as member.[30]

Maharashtra Bill to regulate farmer loan terms, 2008

The State government of Maharashtra, one of the most farmer suicide affected states, passed the Money Lending (Regulation) Act, 2008 to regulate all private money lending to farmers. The bill set maximum legally allowed interest rates on any loans to farmers, setting it to be slightly above the money lending rate by Reserve Bank of India, and it also covered pending loans.[31]

Maharashtra relief package, 2010

The State Government of Maharashtra made it illegal, in 2010, for non-licensed moneylenders from seeking loan repayment. The State Government also announced[32] that it will from Village Farmer Self Help Groups, that will disburse government financed loans,a low rate Crop Insurance program whose premium will be paid 50% by farmer and 50% by government, launch of alternate income opportunities such as poultry, dairy and sericulture for farmers in high suicide prone districts. The government further announced that it will finance a marriage fund under its Samudaik Lagna with ₹10 million (US$150,000) per year per district, for community marriage celebrations, where many couples get married at the same time to help minimise the cost of marriage celebrations – a cause of suicides among farmers as identified by its own study.[32]

Kerala Farmers' Debt Relief Commission (Amendment) Bill, 2012

Kerala, in 2012, amended the Kerala Farmers' Debt Relief Commission Act, 2006 to extend benefits to all distressed farmers with loans through 2011. It cited continuing farmer suicides as a motivation.[33]

2013 diversify income sources package

In 2013, the Government of India launched a Special Livestock Sector and Fisheries Package for farmers suicide-prone regions of Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Karnataka and Kerala. The package was aimed to diversify income sources of farmers. The total welfare package consisted of ₹912 million (US$13 million).[34]

Effectiveness of government response

The government's response and relief packages have generally been ineffective, misdirected and flawed, states Surinder Sud.[35] It has focused on credit and loan, rather than income, productivity and farmer prosperity. Assistance in paying off outstanding principal and interest helps the money lenders, but has failed to create reliable and good sources of income for the farmer going forward. The usurious moneylenders continue to offer loans at interest rates between 24 to 50 percent, while income generating potential of the land the farmer works on has remained low and subject to weather conditions.[35] Sud states that the government has failed to understand that debt relief just postpones the problem and a more lasting answer to farmer distress can only come from reliable income sources, higher crop yields per hectare, irrigation and other infrastructure security.[35] Golait, in a Reserve Bank of India paper,[36] acknowledged the positive role of crop diversification initiative announced in government's response to reports of farmer suicides. Golait added, "Indian agriculture still suffers from: i) poor productivity, ii) falling water levels, iii) expensive credit, iv) a distorted market, v) many middlemen and intermediaries who increase cost but do not add much value, vi) laws that stifle private investment, vii) controlled prices, viii) poor infrastructure, and ix) inappropriate research. Thus the approach with mere emphasis on credit in isolation from the above factors will not help agriculture".[36] Furthermore, recommended Golait, a more pro-active role in creating and maintaining reliable irrigation and other agriculture infrastructure is necessary to address farmer distress in India.[36]

International comparison

Farmers suicide is a global phenomenon. Outside India, studies in Sri Lanka, USA, Canada, England and Australia have identified farming as a high stress profession that is associated with a higher suicide rate than the general population. This is particularly true among small scale farmers and after periods of economic distress.[37] Fraser et al., similarly, after a review of 52 scholarly publications, conclude that farming populations in the United Kingdom, Europe, Australia, Canada and the United States have the highest rates of suicide of any industry and there is growing evidence that those involved in farming are at higher risk of developing mental health problems. Their review claims a wide range of reasons behind farmers suicide globally including mental health issues, physical environment, family problems, economic stress and uncertainties.[38] Significantly higher suicide rate among farmers than general population have been reported in developed countries such as the UK and the US.[39][40][41]

In popular culture

Summer 2007 by producer Atul Pandey, focused on the issue of farmer suicides in Maharashtra's Vidarbha region, as did the 2009 Bollywood film Kissan.[42] Prior to this The Dying Fields, a documentary directed by Fred de Sam Lazaro was aired in August 2007 on Wide Angle (TV series). The 2010 award-winning film Jhing Chik Jhing is based around the emotive issue of farmer suicides in Maharashtra. It looks at how the farmer has very little in his control and looks at the impact of indebtedness on his family.[43]

In 2006, a documentary by Indian film maker Sumit Khanna titled Mere Desh Ki Dharti, did a comprehensive review of the way we grow our food. A well researched and in-depth understanding of the agrarian crisis, it won the national award for the best Investigative film.

In 2009, the International Museum of Women included an examination of the impact of farmers' suicides on the lives of the farmers' wives and children in their exhibition Economica: Women and the Global Economy. Their slideshow "Growing Debt" and accompanying essay by curator Masum Momaya entitled "Money of Her Own" showed how many widows were left with the burden of their husbands' debts, and were forced to work as indentured servants to repay the debt. The widows were also unlikely to remarry, because other men in the community were unwilling to take on the widows' debts for themselves.[44]

See also

General:

References

  1. 1 2 National Crime Reports Bureau, ADSI Report Annual – 2014 Government of India, Page 242, Table 2.11
  2. ↑ "NDA, UPA failed to curb farmer suicides".
  3. ↑ Gruère, G. & Sengupta, D. (2011), Bt cotton and farmer suicides in India: an evidence-based assessment, The Journal of Development Studies, 47(2), pp 316–337
  4. ↑ Gruère, G. & Sengupta, D. (2011), Bt cotton and farmer suicides in India: an evidence-based assessment, The Journal of Development Studies, 47(2), 316–337
  5. ↑ Schurman, R. (2013), Shadow space: suicides and the predicament of rural India, Journal of Peasant Studies, 40(3), 597–601
  6. ↑ Das, A. (2011), Farmers’ suicide in India: implications for public mental health, International Journal of Social Psychiatry, 57(1), 21–29
  7. ↑ "P Sainath: How states fudge the data on declinng farmer suicides".
  8. ↑ I.J. Catanach (1971), Rural Credit in Western India, 1875-1930, University of California Press, ISBN 978-0520015951, pp 10-55
  9. ↑ Laxman Satya (1998), Colonial Encroachment and Popular Resistance: Land Survey and Settlement Operations in Berar: 1860-1877, Agricultural History, Vol 72, No 1, pp 55-76
  10. 1 2 3 Deccan Agriculturists’ Relief Act, XVII of 1879 Government Central Press, Bombay (1882)
  11. ↑ Kranton and Swamy (1999), The hazards of piecemeal reform: British civil courts and the credit market in colonial India, Journal of Development Economics, Vol. 58, pp 1-28
  12. ↑ Chaudhary and Swamy (2014), Protecting the Borrower: An Experiment in Colonial India, Yale University
  13. ↑ Mike Davis (2001), Late Victorian Holocausts, El Niño Famines and the Making of the Third World, Verso, ISBN 1-85984-739-0, Chapter 1
  14. ↑ BM Bhatia (1963), Famines in India 1850-1945, Asia Publishing House, London, ISBN 978-0210338544
  15. ↑ Tim Dyson (1991), "On the Demography of South Asian Famines: Part I", Population Studies, Volume 45, No. 1, pp 5–25
  16. ↑ Ajit Ghose(1982), Food Supply and Starvation: A Study of Famines with Reference to the Indian Subcontinent, Oxford Economic Papers, Vol. 34, Issue 2, pp 368–389
  17. ↑ Ganapathi, M. N. and Venkoba Rao, A. (1966), A study of suicide in Madurai, Journal of Indian Medical Association, vol. 46, pp 18-23
  18. ↑ Nandi et al (1979), Is suicide preventable by restricting the availiability of lethal agents? - A rural survey of West Bengal, Indian Journal of Psychiatry, vol. 21, pp 251-255
  19. ↑ Hegde RS (1980), Suicide in rural community, Indian Journal of Psychiatry, vol. 22, pp 368–370
  20. ↑ Ratna Reddy (1993), New technology in agriculture and changing size-productivity relationships: a study of Andhra Pradesh, Indian Journal of Agricultural Economics, 48(4), pp 633-648
  21. ↑ P Sainath, Everybody Loves a Good Drought: Stories from India's Poorest Districts, Penguin Books, ISBN 0-14-025984-8
  22. ↑ Waldman, Amy (6 June 2004). "Debts and Drought Drive India's Farmers to Despair". New York Times. Retrieved 2 May 2010.
  23. ↑ Huggler, Justin (2 July 2004). "India acts over suicide crisis on farms". London: The Independent. Retrieved 2 May 2010.
  24. ↑ J Hardikar, Farmer suicides: Maharastra continues to be worst-affected 10th year in a row DNA India (9 January 2011)
  25. ↑ Serving Farmers And Saving Farming 2006 : YEAR OF AGRICULTURAL RENEWAL THIRD REPORT National Commission on Farmers, Government of India
  26. ↑ M Rajivlochan (28 August 2007). "Farmers and firefighters". Indian Express.
  27. 1 2 Press Information Bureau, Govt. to launch special rehabilitation package to mitigate the distress of farmers in 31 Districts in 4 States Govt of India
  28. ↑ Agricultural debt Waiver and Debt Relief Scheme, 2008, GOVERNMENT OF INDIA
  29. ↑ asantrao Naik Sheti Swavlamban Mission, Amravati
  30. ↑ Deshpande (2002)
  31. ↑ Maharashtra Money-Lending (Regulation) Ordinance, 2008 with Central Government for President’s approval Mumbai (February 2009), Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs
  32. 1 2 State Govt Package Maharashtra Government
  33. ↑ THE KERALA FARMERS’ DEBT RELIEF COMMISSION (AMENDMENT) BILL, 2012 Bill 72, Gazette of Enacted Bills, Govt of Kerala
  34. ↑ Annual Report 2012-2013 DEPARTMENT OF ANIMAL HUSBANDRY, DAIRYING & FISHERIES Ministry of Agriculture, Government of India, New Delhi
  35. 1 2 3 Surinder Sud (2009), The Changing Profile of Indian Agriculture, Business Standard Books, ISBN 978-8190573559, pp 107-109
  36. 1 2 3 Ramesh Golait, "Current Issues in Agriculture Credit in India: An Assessment", Reserve Bank of India Occasional Papers, Vol. 28, No. 1, Summer 2007, pp 79-98
  37. ↑ Behere and Bhise, Farmers' suicide: Across culture, Indian Journal of Psychiatry, 2009 Oct–Dec; 51(4): 242–243
  38. ↑ Fraser et al., Farming and mental health problems and mental illness, International Journal Soc Psychiatry, 2005 Dec; 51(4):340–349
  39. ↑ Barry Hounsome et al. (2012), Psychological Morbidity of Farmers and Non-farming Population: Results from a UK Survey, Community Mental Health Journal, August 2012, Volume 48, Issue 4, pp 503–510
  40. ↑ Joel Dyer (1998), Harvest of Rage, Westview Press, ISBN 978-0813332932, page 33
  41. ↑ Augustine J. Kposowa and Aikaterini Glyniadaki (2012), Mental Health and Suicide: An Ecological Hierarchical Analysis of U.S. Counties and States, Opportunities and Challenges for Applied Demography in the 21st Century, Applied Demography Series Volume 2, ISBN 978-94-007-2296-5, Springer, Netherlands, pp 289–308
  42. ↑ "Has Bollywood shut its eyes to movies on farmers?". The Economic Times. 29 August 2009. Archived from the original on 2 September 2009.
  43. ↑ "Jhing Chik Jhing – a story of hope". January 2010.
  44. ↑ "Marriage and Money". Economica: Women and the Global Economy. October 2009.
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