Seven farmers have committed suicide in Madhya Pradesh in less than a month.
Kanhaiya Patel (30) of Hata village in Damoh district committed suicide on Wednesday taking the total to seven. He had taken an acre of land on lease and had a debt of Rs.20,000. After his entire arhar (pulses) crop failed, the landowner is reported to have said that if any compensation came by it would belong to him as the owner.
Five of the seven suicides have occurred in Damoh district. The reasons include massive failure of the pulses crop, coupled with heavy institutional and non-institutional debts.
However, Damoh Collector S.P. Singh Saluja told The Hindu : “The suicides were committed due to personal reasons and not debt; crop failure may have been a reason in some cases but for that surveys are being conducted and compensation will be paid for any crop failures we come across.”
A large number of farmers staged a demonstration in front of the Collector's office on Tuesday demanding compensation for the failed crops.
Uday Singh of Devran village, attempted to end his life by consuming pesticide on Monday. He is reported to be under a joint debt (with his four brothers) of Rs.1.06 lakh from a nationalised bank and a personal debt of Rs.30,000.
“In this case, the suicide was attempted because of tension between Uday and his wife. Luckily, the poison intake was less and he survived,” said Damoh Superintendent of Police D.K. Arya.
Denial mode
While suicides continue to occur, the State government seems to be in a denial mode. Parliamentary Affairs Minister and government spokesman Narottam Mishra told journalists last week that no farmer in Madhya Pradesh had committed suicide owing to the burden of debt.
Commenting on the death last week of a farmer, Shivprasad of Ichaavar tehsil in Sehore district, Mr. Mishra said he was well-to-do and must have committed suicide owing to personal reasons. Local newspapers reported that the farmer's family was under pressure to say that he was suffering from insanity and had therefore taken his life. The family confirmed the reports and said the authorities had taken away all loan documents from them.
Triolki Joshi of Devri Tehsil in Sagar district, took his life on Monday. A note found on his person said he had consumed pesticide after the failure of pulses crop on his seven-acre land.
Sagar Superintendent of Police V.S. Suryavanshi said: “The note is yet to be verified as it was not there during the panchnama.”
A total of 12,455 farmers committed suicide in Madhya Pradesh from 2001 to 2009, according to the National Crime Records Bureau. Of them, 2, 296 were women, making it 18.43 per cent of the total suicides — the highest among all States.
Madhya Pradesh follows Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Chhattisgarh in the infamous list of the “Big Five” — the five States with the highest incidence of farmer suicides.
In 2009 alone, 1,395 farmers committed suicide in the State, taking the average farmer suicide that year to four a day.
According to a 2003 household debt survey conducted by the National Sample Survey Organisation, the average individual farmer debt in Madhya Pradesh stood at Rs.14,218.
The State Human Rights Commission has served notices to Collectors and Superintendents of Police of all districts to explain farmer suicides.
