NCRB DATA: 2,568 farmers ended lives — another highest

Of this, 857 farmers took the extreme step due to bankruptcy and indebtedness, again the highest in the country in this sub-category.

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The NCRB has collected data on the high numbers of suicides that point to a deep-seated problem in the agricultural economy of the country.

The study has identified 25 reasons, that range from poverty to marriage-related reasons, drug and alcohol addiction, and property disputes, of which Maharashtra tops in almost all the counts. The NCRB data also has an additional category for transgenders after they were recognised as the third gender by a Supreme Court order last year. The transgender column, however, remained nil throughout the study.

All the deaths have been recorded as accidental deaths at police stations, have been classified by the deceased farmer’s land holding status.

In Maharashtra, 1,335 ‘small farmers’ (who farm on land between 1-2 hectares) and 627 ‘marginal farmers’ (who farm on land below one hectare) have taken the extreme step last year. There are 62 farmers with more than 10 hectare of agricultural land have committed suicide in the state.

After Maharashtra, the second highest farm suicides have been recorded in Telangana at 898 and Madhya Pradesh at 826.
Failure of crops due to natural calamity such as unseasonal rain and hailstorms have claimed 294 lives in the state, listed as another reason in the report, again the maximum across the country.

Drug and alcohol addiction have claimed 173 lives, the maximum across the country.

Another reason for farmer deaths that the state tops is ‘family problems’ that stand at 671, followed by Madhya Pradesh at 208.