With a figure of at least 14,027 in 2011, according to the National
Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), the total number of farm suicides since
1995 has touched 2,70, 940. The State of Maharashtra shows a rise in
numbers yet again, logging 3,337 against 3,141 farmers’ suicides the
previous year (and 2,872 in 2009). This, despite heavy massaging of data
at the State level for years now, even re-defining of the term “farmer”
itself. And despite an orchestrated (and expensive) campaign in the
media and other forums by governments and major seed corporations to
show that their efforts had made things a lot better. Maharashtra
remains the worst single State for farm suicides for over a decade now.
The total number of farmers who have taken their own lives in
Maharashtra since 1995 is closing in on 54,000. Of these 33,752 have
occurred in nine years since 2003, at an annual average of 3,750. The
figure for 1995-2002 was 20,066 at an average of 2,508. Significantly,
the rise is occurring even as the farm population is shrinking a fact
broadly true across the country. And more so in Maharashtra which has
been urbanising more rapidly than most. The
rising-suicides-shrinking-population equation suggests a major
intensification of the pressures on the community. A better
understanding of that, though, awaits the new farm population figures of
the 2011 Census — not expected for many months from now. At present
both national and State-wise farm suicide ratios (the number of farmers
committing suicide per 100,000 farmers) are based on very outdated 2001
Census numbers.
Big five States
The 2011 total gets dicey with Chhattisgarh’s posting a figure of zero
farm suicides. A zero figure should be great news. Except that
Chhattisgarh had 7,777 farm suicides in the preceding five years,
including 1,126 in 2010. It has been amongst the very worst States for
such deaths for several years. The share of the worst (Big 5) states
(Maharashtra, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Madhya
Pradesh) as a percentage of total farm suicides, is now around 64 per
cent. Even with Chhattisgarh showing a ‘zero’ figure, that is not much
lower than the preceding five-year average for the Big 5 of close to 66
per cent. It could be that Chhattisgarh’s figures have simply not made
it to the NCRB in time. Otherwise, it means that the State is in fact a
late entrant to the numbers massage parlour. Others have been doing it
for years. Maharashtra since 2007, following the Prime Minister’s visit
to Vidarbha. Union Minister for Agriculture Sharad Pawar has strictly
avoided using NCRB farm data in Parliament since 2008 because the data
are unpleasant. (The union government however quotes the NCRB for all
other categories). Now, governments are deep into fiddling the data that
goes from the States to the NCRB.
With the Big 5 also staring drought in the face, what numbers the coming
season will throw up is most worrying. Within Maharashtra, Vidarbha and
Marathwada have already been under great stress (which in turn pushes
officials to step up data fiddles). If the numbers are re-calculated
using the annual average of Chhattisgarh in the past five years, the
national total of farm suicides for 2011 would be 15,582. And the share
of the Big 5 (at 10,524) would be nearly 68 per cent. That’s higher than
the five-year average for those States, too. In 1995, the first time
the NCRB tabulated farm suicide data, the Big 5 accounted for 56.04 per
cent of all farm suicides.
In 2011, five States showed increases of over 50 farm suicides compared
to 2010. These included Gujarat (55), Haryana (87), Madhya Pradesh (89),
Tamil Nadu (82). Maharashtra alone showed a rise of 196. Nine States
showed declines exceeding 50 farm suicides, of which Karnataka (485) and
Andhra Pradesh (319) and West Bengal (186) claimed the biggest falls.
That, of course, after Chhattisgarh, which claimed a decline of 1,126,
with its zero farm suicides figure in 2011.
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