BeautifulGame Posted April 22, 2015 Posted April 22, 2015 "I am the son of a farmer. I hail from Nangal Jhalawar in Rajasthan's Dausa. My father kicked me out of the house. My crop got damaged. I have three children but I don't have any work. Tell me how should I go back home." This is what the suicide note said.Just depressing Marginal and small farmers who mostly live under bpl should be given some sort of monthly income by the Govts so that they don't completely depend upon unseasonal rains to feed family .
BeautifulGame Posted April 22, 2015 Author Posted April 22, 2015 Farmers’ suicide rates soar above the rest Suicide rates among Indian farmers were a chilling 47 per cent higher than they were for the rest of the population in 2011. In some of the States worst hit by the agrarian crisis, they were well over 100 per cent higher. The new Census 2011 data reveal a shrinking farmer population. And it is on this reduced base that the farm suicides now occur. Apply the new Census totals to the suicide data of the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) and the results are grim. Sample: A farmer in Andhra Pradesh is three times more likely to commit suicide than anyone else in the country, excluding farmers. And twice as likely to do so when compared to non-farmers in his own State. The odds are not much better in Maharashtra, which remained the worst State for such suicides across a decade. “The picture remains dismal,†says Prof. K. Nagaraj, an economist at the Asian College of Journalism, Chennai. Prof. Nagaraj's 2008 study on farm suicides in India remains the most important one on the subject. “The intensity of farm suicides shows no real decline,†he says. “Nor do the numbers show a major fall. They remain concentrated in the farming heartlands of five key States. The crisis there continues. And the adjusted farmers’ suicide rate for 2011 is in fact slightly higher than it was in 2001.†And that’s after heavy data fudging at the State level. Five States account for two-thirds of all farm suicides in the country, as NCRB data show. These are Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh. The share of these ‘Big 5’ in total farm suicides was higher in 2011 than it was in 2001. At the same time, the new Census data show that four of these States have far fewer farmers than they did a decade ago. Only Maharashtra reports an increase in their numbers. Nationwide, the farmers’ suicide rate (FSR) was 16.3 per 100,000 farmers in 2011. That’s a lot higher than 11.1, which is the rate for the rest of the population. And slightly higher than the FSR of 15.8 in 2001. In Maharashtra, for instance, the rate is 29.1 suicides per 100,000 farmers (‘Main cultivators’). Which is over 160 per cent higher than that for all Indians excluding farmers. Such gaps exist in other States, too. In as many as 16 of 22 major States, the farm suicide rate was higher than the rate among the rest of the population (RRP) in 2011. The data for 2011 are badly skewed, with States like Chhattisgarh declaring ‘zero’ farm suicides that year. The same State reported an increase in total suicides that same year. But claimed that not one of these was a farmer. What happens if we take the average number of farm suicides reported by the State in three years before 2011? Then Chhattisgarh’s FSR is more than 350 per cent higher than the rate among the rest of the country’s population. In 1995, the ‘Big 5’ accounted for over half of all farm suicides in India. In 2011, they logged over two-thirds of them. Given this concentration, even the dismal all-India figures tend to make things seem less terrible than they are. Ten States show a higher farm suicide rate in 2011 than in 2001. That includes the major farming zones of Punjab and Haryana. The average farm suicide rate in the ‘Big 5’ is slightly up, despite a decline in Karnataka. And also a fall in Maharashtra. The latter has the worst record of any State. At least 53,818 farmers’ suicides since 1995. So how come it shows a lower FSR now? Well, because Census 2011 tells us the State has added 1.2 million farmers (‘main cultivators’) since 2001. That’s against a nationwide decline of 7.7 million in the same years. So Maharashtra’s farm suicide rate shows a fall. Yet, its farm suicide numbers have not gone down by much. And a farmer in this State is two-and-a-half times more likely to kill himself than anyone else in the country, other than farmers. Karnataka, in 2011, saw a lot less of farm suicides than it did a decade ago. And so, despite having fewer farmers than it did in 2001, the State shows a lower FSR. Yet, even the ‘lower’ farm suicide rates in both Maharashtra and Karnataka are way above the rate for the rest of the country. These figures are obtained by applying the new farm population totals of Census 2011 to farm suicide numbers of the NCRB. The Census records cultivators. The police count suicides. In listing suicides, the State governments and police tend to count only those with a title to land as farmers. “Large numbers of farm suicides still occur,†says Prof. Nagaraj. “Only that seems not to be recognised, officially and politically. Is the ‘conspiracy of silence’ back in action?†A disturbing trend has gained ground with Chhattisgarh’s declaration of ‘zero’ farm suicides. (That’s despite having had 4,700 in 36 months before the ‘zero’ declaration). Puducherry has followed suit. Others will doubtless do the same. Punjab and Haryana have in several years claimed ‘zero’ women farmers’ suicides. (Though media and study reports in the same years suggest otherwise). This trend must at some point fatally corrupt the data. At least 270,940 Indian farmers have taken their lives since 1995, NCRB records show. This occurred at an annual average of 14,462 in six years, from 1995 to 2000. And at a yearly average of 16,743 in 11 years between 2001 and 2011. That is around 46 farmers’ suicides each day, on average. Or nearly one every half-hour since 2001. http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/columns/sainath/farmers-suicide-rates-soar-above-the-rest/article4725101.ece
Cricket_Hacker Posted April 22, 2015 Posted April 22, 2015 Too many farmers are working on small amount of land.
BlueBee Posted April 22, 2015 Posted April 22, 2015 Majority of farmers have less than 2 hectares in India. And the members in the family are more than 5 for those families. Too less land to run the family.
coffee_rules Posted April 22, 2015 Posted April 22, 2015 Social stigma associated with bankruptcy is the reason. Feudal landlords would employ people going bankrupt as slave laborers for life. It is still going on in villages.
BeautifulGame Posted April 22, 2015 Author Posted April 22, 2015 Social stigma associated with bankruptcy is the reason. Feudal landlords would employ people going bankrupt as slave laborers for life. It is still going on in villages. Nope.Those labourers arent even classified as farmers but are categorized agricultural labours The S&M farmers are the people who own land (less than 5 acres)and farming is the major livelihood activity, yet who have insufficient assets to produce surplus from their agricultural activities.
Raghav_12 Posted April 22, 2015 Posted April 22, 2015 Farmers put everything behind to get a good crop. All of their next year planning like Sister's marriage, son's admission, repayment of loans from local shahookars dependent on how well crop comes up. Crop getting ruined in kind of end for them.
asterix Posted April 22, 2015 Posted April 22, 2015 If anything then Modi should take the step of "Save Farmer movement"... To hell with "Swachch Bharat Abhiyan"... Effing what's important for him? My :hatsoff: will be for him if he does something in this regards...
Clarke Posted April 22, 2015 Posted April 22, 2015 If we are to fix our dual problems of food inflation & farmer woes, it will require a major some major changes in the country. The previous measures on support price & loan waivers haven't really curbed the problems of the farmer and have definitely hurt inflation. Some amount (maybe a lot) of farm land consolidation could enable mechanization and higher yields while farm labor is absorbed by industrial growth. Of course, farmers as such will require additional govt assistance at times with their fundamental role in any society but the existing form of small land holdings and dependence on vagaries of climate is not sustainable. While Irrigation is something that needs attention, unseasonal rains are just tough luck and crop insurance could maybe help in some ways.
mishra Posted April 22, 2015 Posted April 22, 2015 ^ I was in India couple of weeks back. All, yes ALL the crop has been done by the rain. State government has promised Rs 1500 per bigha. That just about covers the cost of ploughing the land next season. Indian farming needs modernization.
gattaca Posted April 22, 2015 Posted April 22, 2015 why cant we push to insure crops in India ? This seems an option. Dont know how it will cover damages by rain though.
Clarke Posted April 22, 2015 Posted April 22, 2015 If anything then Modi should take the step of "Save Farmer movement"... To hell with "Swachch Bharat Abhiyan"... Effing what's important for him? My :hatsoff: will be for him if he does something in this regards... Sounds noble, doesn't it ? What exactly is composed of such a yojna is the big question. UPA-I wrote a 60,000 crore cheque to write off farmer loans in 2008. Did it stop farmer suicides ? Did the support pricing stop it ? We all know which way food inflation went in recent years, hurting the poor very badly. The cheque won them the 2009 election while the overall effect of their short sighted policies burnt them in 2014.
mishra Posted April 22, 2015 Posted April 22, 2015 why cant we push to insure crops in India ? This seems an option. Dont know how it will cover damages by rain though. Few months back, Modi did mention something along similar lines. But it will take times.
amiret Posted April 22, 2015 Posted April 22, 2015 Now this is serious Hindustan Times " He was rushed to the hospital by AAP workers but doctors at the Ram Manohar Lohia hospital declared him dead on arrival around 2pm." Tweeting 20 mins later ? is it not possible that people on the ground were aware of his death before TOI's breaking news. Or perhaps it was a vast KHANspiracy hatched by AAP. :facepalm:
BeautifulGame Posted April 22, 2015 Author Posted April 22, 2015 why cant we push to insure crops in India ? This seems an option. Dont know how it will cover damages by rain though. We already have http://financialservices.gov.in/insurance/gssois/nais.asp But the problem is compensations take more than a year to come at times .And we are talking about the daily money needs of a farmer below BPL.Also lot of illiterate farmers arent aware of it either sadly
amiret Posted April 22, 2015 Posted April 22, 2015 ^ from that link NAIS is presently being implemented in 24 States and 2 Union Territories except in States of Punjab & Arunachal Pradesh. Nagaland has given consent to implement the scheme and Rajasthan has decided to implement WBCIS in place of NAIS. Since the inception of the scheme and until up to 31.03.11 about 176 million farmers have been insured, covering an area of 269 million hectares for a sum insured value of Rs. 2,21,213 crore, against a premium of Rs. 6589 crore. Claims to the tune of about Rs. 22190 crore have been reported so far benefiting nearly 47.6 million farmers representing a claim ratio of 1:3.37.
amiret Posted April 22, 2015 Posted April 22, 2015 Farmer suicides on rise: IB report Dec 2014 : NEW DELHI: There has been an upward trend in cases of farmer suicides in Maharashtra, Telangana, Karnataka and Punjab recently, besides reporting of instances in Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh and Tamil Nadu, says an Intelligence Bureau note submitted to the Modi government late last week. The December 19 report, marked to national security adviser Ajit Kumar Doval, principal secretary to the Prime Minister Nripendra Mishra, and agriculture ministry, among others, has blamed rising farmer suicides on erratic monsoon (at the onset stage) this year, outstanding loans, rising debt, low crop yield, poor procurement rate of crops and successive crop failure. It also linked the agriculturists' woes to a depleted water table, unsuitable macro-economic policies with respect to taxes, non-farm loans and faulty prices of import and export. According to the IB, "the main reason of farmers' suicides can be attributed to both natural and manmade factors...while natural factors like uneven rains, hailstorm, drought and floods adversely affect crop yield, the manmade factors, i.e. pricing policies and inadequate marketing facilities result in post-yield losses". The all-India report titled 'Spate of Cases of Suicide by Farmers' emphasizes how government relief packages are of limited use as they do not address the plight of farmers who borrow rom private moneylenders. "The money lenders continue to offer loans at interest rates between 24 to 50 per cent, while income generating potential of the land has remained low and subject to weather conditions," the IB pointed out. LINK
Number Posted April 22, 2015 Posted April 22, 2015 This unseasonal rain has really ruined a lot of equations at every level. :(( Crops ruined, prices are going to shoot up. This particular case was a political stunt gone wrong by all accounts. The man was a well to do politician.
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