Farmer suicides in Marathwada cross 400 mark in 4 months; toll reaches 1,548

92 more than 2015, Govt taskforce says crisis too big, will take time to turn things around.

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A farmer whose sugarcane cropped whithered away due to lack of rains in Latur. (Express Photo by Manoj More)

The farmer suicides, which have remained unstoppable for past few years in eight districts of Marathwada, have crossed the staggering 400-mark in just over four month period in 2016.

Compared to 2015, as many as 92 more farmers have embraced deaths in the first four and half months of 2016, highlighting the failure of the government schemes launched in August to curb the spate of suicides.

A special taskforce appointed by the Devendra Fadnavis government on Tuesday conceded that the agrarian crisis was too “substantial” and results of the government efforts to put brakes on suicides will take time to show up.

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In 2015, the collective figure of suicides in all eight districts of Marathwada stood at 1,130 – three suicides every day and throughout the year. In past 16 months, 1,548 distressed farmers have been reported dead in the Marathwada region which is witnessing fourth successive years of drought with wells, rivers and dams having gone dry.

In 2015, Beed, from where Rural Development Minister Pankaja Munde hails, had witnessed nearly 300 farmer suicides. In 2016, in just over four months, it is again on top with 75 suicides. In Aurangabad where Shiv Sena and MIM raise decibel levels on every other issue stands second with 64 suicides.

Nanded, from where MPCC president Ashok Chavan comes from, is at third spot with 62 suicides. Other districts where farmer suicides have become common includes Latur 55, Osmanabad 54, Jalna 43, Parbhani 39 and Hingoli 26, according to officials at the Aurangabad divisional commissionerate which monitors the farmer suicides.

In 2015, from January to April, as many as 278 had ended their lives. In the same period in 2016, 370 – 92 more than 2015. Till May 7, in 2016, 392 farmers were reported dead. In 2015, the figure of suicides stood at 300 in the same period.

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“It is true that compared to last year, this year’s figure of farmer suicides is on the much higher side,” said Jitendra Papalkar, Aurangabad Deputy Commissioner (revenue).

Osmanabad which was picked by the state government’s “zero-suicide district” reflects what, official sources, say the failure of government’s so-called efforts to put brakes on the farmer suicide saga. It has reported 54 suicides since January.

Officials have been citing two main reasons for farmer suicides: crop failure and mounting debts.

Conceding that government efforts have not yielded results so far, Kishore Tiwari, who heads the state government-appointed Vasantrao Naik Shetkari Swavlamban Mission, said the agrarian crisis in Marathwada was so “substantial” that it will take time before the turn around happens.

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“We have launched a number of schemes to halt the suicides of farmers in Marathwada and other parts of the state. Among the plans includes Food Security Act, critical illness, waiver of fees, counselling for farmers as also vigorous implementation of crop insurance. Since farmer suicides are growing, it is clear that our effort will take time to yield results,” he said.

Tiwari said the government has aggressively launched the crop cultivation campaign in Marathwada.

“Under this, we are urging farmers to go for food crop likes pulses, jowar, maize instead of water guzzling crops like sugarcane,” he said. “One acre of sugarcane crop guzzles water of 100 acre of cotton crop. This difference is stark. Therefore, in places like Latur, Beed and Osmanabad which have been hit hard by water shortage, it will be in their own interest if farmers shun sugarcane crop and instead prefer food crops,” he said.

The government, said Tiwari, is even providing seeds for free and imparting teaching on cultivation methods.

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Clarifying that government was not against sugarcane crop, Tiwari said,”Where ever there is ample amount of water like in Western Maharashtra, sugarcane remains the favourite crop. But in drought-hit areas, the crop pattern should change in favour of crops that consume less water,” he said.

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Tiwari said in drought-hit areas where farmer shun sugarcane crop, the taskforce will urge the government to provide compensation to sugar factories.

“But all this needed concerted efforts, especially on the part of local politicians, who should come together and take a united decision vis-a-vis changing cultivation pattern,” he said.

State Congress spokesperson Sachin Sawant said, “While the state government is claiming that it had launched a number schemes to halt farmers suicides, the figures tell a completely different story. All this means that the plans are only on paper and at ground zero, nothing is reaching the farmers. How can the government sitting in Ivory Towers know what is happening in faraway in Marathwada? This government is busy with paperwork and not doing any ground work,” he said.

Manoj Dattatrye More

Manoj More has been working with the Indian Express since 1992. For the first 16 years, he worked on the desk, edited stories, made pages, wrote special stories and handled The Indian Express edition. In 31 years of his career, he has regularly written stories on a range of topics, primarily on civic issues like state of roads, choked drains, garbage problems, inadequate transport facilities and the like. He has also written aggressively on local gondaism. He has primarily written civic stories from Pimpri-Chinchwad, Khadki, Maval and some parts of Pune. He has also covered stories from Kolhapur, Satara, Solapur, Sangli, Ahmednagar and Latur. He has had maximum impact stories from Pimpri-Chinchwad industrial city which he has covered extensively for the last three decades. Manoj More has written over 20,000 stories. 10,000 of which are byline stories. Most of the stories pertain to civic issues and political ones. The biggest achievement of his career is getting a nearly two kilometre road done on Pune-Mumbai highway in Khadki in 2006. He wrote stories on the state of roads since 1997. In 10 years, nearly 200 two-wheeler riders had died in accidents due to the pathetic state of the road. The local cantonment board could not get the road redone as it lacked funds. The then PMC commissioner Pravin Pardeshi took the initiative, went out of his way and made the Khadki road by spending Rs 23 crore from JNNURM Funds. In the next 10 years after the road was made by the PMC, less than 10 citizens had died, effectively saving more than 100 lives. Manoj More's campaign against tree cutting on Pune-Mumbai highway in 1999 and Pune-Nashik highway in 2004 saved 2000 trees. During Covid, over 50 doctors were asked to pay Rs 30 lakh each for getting a job with PCMC. The PCMC administration alerted Manoj More who did a story on the subject, asking then corporators how much money they demanded....The story worked as doctors got the job without paying a single paisa. Manoj More has also covered the "Latur drought" situation in 2015 when a "Latur water train" created quite a buzz in Maharashtra. He also covered the Malin tragedy where over 150 villagers had died. Manoj More is on Facebook with 4.9k followers (Manoj More), on twitter manojmore91982 ... Read More

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