Debt is a reason too, according to Singh.
By Dileep Thekkethil
BENGALURU: Union Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh has unleashed a new controversy by stating that dowry, love affairs and impotency are the main reasons for farmer suicides in India.
In a written statement given in response to a question raised in Rajya Sabha, Radha Mohan Singh said “According to the National Crime Records Bureau, causes of (farmer) suicides include family problems, illness, drugs … dowry, love affairs and impotency.”
The written statement says, 1,400 farmers committed suicide in 2014 due to various reasons in which debt is just one among the many.
The reply is expected to kick start a fresh row in both houses which have been disrupted due to the vehement protest of the opposition demanding the resignation of Foreign Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj over the Lalit Modi issue.
The report is also a setback for the BJP government that is trying to pass the controversial land acquisition bill in Rajya Sabha, which is dubbed as anti-farmer and anti-poor.
According to the report, 1,400 farmers committed suicide in 2014 with maximum suicides reported from Maharashtra, Telangana and Chhattisgarh.
The report titled “Accidental Deaths and Suicides in India 2014”, released by the crime records bureau says, out of 5,650 farmers who committed suicide in India, 472 were women and the rest men.
“The highest incidents of 2,568 suicides of farmers were in Maharashtra (45.5 per cent), followed by 898 suicides in Telangana (15.9 per cent) and 826 in Madhya Pradesh (14.6 per cent),” the data revealed.
“Telangana reported the maximum cases of female farmers’ suicides at 31.1 percent followed closely by Madhya Pradesh (29.2 per cent), and Maharashtra (14.1 per cent),” it added.
According to the report, bankruptcy/indebtedness and family problems were the main reasons behind the farmers committing suicide. When 20.6 percent farmers committed suicide due to bankruptcy 20.1 percent deaths were caused due to family problems. Other reasons include crop failure (16.8 per cent) and illness (13.2 per cent).
The report also says that 65.75 percent of the farmers who committed suicide in India are between the age of 30 to 60. Out of 1,400 farmers who committed suicide, 59 were minors, below 18 years.
The report also indicates that even though 15 people committed suicide in India hourly in 2014, the overall number has dropped significantly from 1,34,799 in 2013 to 1,31,666 in 2014.
The highest number of suicides were reported from the state of Maharashtra (16,307), followed by Tamil Nadu (16,122) and West Bengal (14,310).
Bhopal in Madhya Pradesh saw a huge increase in the number of farmer suicide, registering the death of 1064 farmers in 2014, compared to 384 deaths in 2013, an increase of 117 percent. The report also says that the suicide rate in Kanpur declined 78.7 percent, coming down to 138 in 2014 from 648 in 2013.