Distressed by debt burden, farmer’s daughter ends life in Marathwada

17-year-old says in suicide note that she did not want to see her father take his life

FILE- In this May 11, 2016 file photo, Indian farmer Anant More inspects his destroyed crop of sugarcane due to drought in Marathwada region, in the Indian state of Maharashtra. Researchers report a link between crop-damaging temperatures and suicide rates in India, where more than 130,000 farmers end their lives every year. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup, File)

The 17-year-old daughter of a debt-ridden farmer committed suicide by consuming poison in Pathri taluk of Parbhani district in Marathwada on Tuesday.

According to the district police, Sarika Jhute, a Class XII student at a college in Beed district, ended her life as she could not see her father, Suresh Jhute, weighed down by the debt he owes to Maharashtra Grameen Bank and other local district banks.

The police said they have recovered a suicide note in which Jhute says she did not want to see her father end his life like his debt-ridden brother, Chandikadas Jhute, who died after consuming poison on August 3.

The note reads, “Dear father, I have seen your brother take his life after the rains failed and the crops dried up. I have seen you struggle to repay the enormous debt. The loans taken during my sister’s wedding [in 2016] only aggravated your responsibility. I cannot bear to see you in constant tension. I do not want the fate of my uncle to befall you and hence I am ending my life.”

Parbhani and seven other districts in Marathwada region are facing 60% deficient monsoon in August. The districts have recorded an average of 75 mm of rain against the 202 mm received in July.

The poor rains have caused farmers to panic as the benefits of the government’s loan waiver scheme have not yet reached many of them.