The agrarian crisis continues to haunt the length and breadth of Andhra Pradesh, where a staggering 1,513 farmers committed suicide between June 2014 and late 2018, reveal records of the District Crime Records Bureau of the respective districts.
In a reply to the queries sought by Rythu Swarajya Vedhika (RSV) under the Right to Information Act, the DCRBs concerned have confirmed the number of farmers who had committed suicide owing to crop failure, indebtedness and unable to repay the credit to various sources following the failure of the crops, mostly maize, cotton and paddy. The RSV is an NGO working on ‘agrarian crisis and farmers’ suicides in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.
In Anantapur district alone, 532 farmers ended their lives reportedly due to crop failure and existing agrarian crisis, while 236 farmers committed suicide in Kurnool district between June 2014 to December 2018. All of them were male farmers and majority of them have ended their lives by hanging or consuming pesticide.
In the most fertile regions of Guntur and Prakasam districts, 220 and 133 farmers respectively have committed suicide.
In the land where mighty river Godavari flows, a staggering number of 80 and 56 farmers have committed suicide in East and West Godavari districts respectively, reportedly due to failure of crops and distress associated with the agrarian crisis.
The North Andhra region had witnessed 40 farmer suicides, including 22 in Visakhapatnam district. In Kadapa and Chittoor districts, 80 and 66 farmers ended their lives.
Speaking to The Hindu , Rythu Swarajya Vedhika Secretary B. Kondal Reddy said; “The field studies show that the total number of the farmer suicides is much higher than what has been registered in the District Crime Records Bureau. A thorough attention towards addressing the existing distress among the farmers is required by the State government. The new government, led by Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy, should ensure grant of ex-gratia to every eligible family of farmers who had taken their own lives due to agrarian crisis since mid-2014”.
Ex-gratia
According to the State Agriculture Department (Extension Wing), the ex-gratia to the next of the kin of farmers who had committed suicide since June 2014 had been granted in the case of 391 farmers by the end of 2018; 184 families were awarded the ex-gratia in 2014 and 15 in 2018.
“An extensive field survey is being done, documenting every farmer’s suicide across the State to submit the findings to the newly formed State government to ensure that no eligible farmer’s family would be left without getting the ex-gratia to manage their family and farm”, added Mr. Kondal Reddy.
