116 Indian farmer suicides in first 3 months of 2016

Days after attributing the record number of farmer suicides in 2015 to poor disbursement of credit, which left them at the mercy of usurious money lenders, the Centre on Tuesday shared with Parliament grim statistics highlighting how the situation remains unchanged in 2016, with as many as 116 suicides during the first three months.

Maharashtra continues to be the dark spot, recording the highest number of farmer suicides. Punjab, which recorded only three farmer suicides in 2014, was second in the list in 2015 as also so far this year.

However, MP, which has consistently been recording farmer suicides in varying numbers till 2014, managed to escape this tragic cycle, Times of India reports.

The state did not report any suicide in 2015 and during the first three months of this year. Officials credit MP’s better agricultural growth, backed by creation of irrigation infrastructure in water-stressed areas, for the turnaround.

Water-starved Maharashtra faces the brunt for its failure to adapt to suitable cropping patterns, particularly Marathwada.

In response to a Parliament question, the government informed the Lok Sabha that of the 2,115 farmers who committed suicide in 2014, 1,163 were driven by debt, and the remaining by crop loss.

In Maharashtra, 857 of 1,207 farmers who committed suicide did so due to debt burden, which lays bare their dependence on local money-lenders due to a non-functional farm credit system in the state and also in other parts of the country.

The figures for farmer’s suicide were shared on a day Union agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh alleged that dams were constructed in Maharashtra to serve interests of the sugar industry and not farmers.

‘I demand a discussion on Maharashtra drought so that facts can come to light,’ he said in Lok Sabha, blaming the previous Congress-led government in the state for the mess.

His allegation triggered a war of words with the opposition blaming the Centre for not doing enough to provide relief to the drought-affected states.