Maharashtra to get independent body to certify suicide claim

When told that the agrarian suicides were on the decline in the region and yet the Government was being criticised for underplaying the crisis, Deshmukh directed officials to have the matter probed by an independent agency.

Accordingly, the Vasantrao Naik Sheti Swawalamban Mission, set up to implement the two farm packages (Central and state), wrote a letter to the Government on May 14, formally making a plea to appoint an agency.

The letter said, the total number of agrarian suicides have been going down as an impact of the two packages. But an agency be appointed to verify the Government claim and for suggesting better ideas and better ways of implementation, if any.

Accordingly, the Government approached the Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research (IGIDR) to take up the inquiry. “Yes, they have approached us, and we have an inclination to take it up, but we are too tied down by other assignments, so we haven’t decided anything so far,” a top IGIDR researcher told The Indian Express.