BENGALURU: Though the farm loan waiver has not succeeded in putting an end to farmer suicides in the state, data shows that there has been a decrease in farmers taking extreme steps after the waiver. While the government had compensated 72 cases of farmer suicides on an average every month in the 36 months between 2015-16 to 2017-18, in the three months since the loan waiver was announced in July, the average has come down to 30.
Farmer leaders and experts maintain that the dip is temporary and the number of suicides will increase again unless farmers are assured of income security. Proper measures are still not in place to address the agrarian crisis, they said.
Data from the Department of Agriculture shows that since July, 100 farmers had committed suicides till September 30. In contrast, 205 farmers had ended their lives in the first three months of the financial year — April to June. In all, 305 cases were reported in the six months of the financial year.
Among the districts in the state, the maximum number of suicides was in Belagavi district (34), followed by Vijayapura (21) and Kalaburagi (19). Districts in Northern Karnataka had more cases than in the southern part of the state during the six-month period.Speaking to The New Indian Express, Kodihalli Chandrashekar, president of Karnataka Rajya Raitha Sangha and Hasiru Sene, said the brief lull in suicides will end soon.
“The loan waiver announcement has reduced suicide numbers fractionally. Since the government went back on its promise and decided to waive only crop loan as against the promise of waiving all loans of farmers, such cases will not stop,” he said.He said the state government should take steps o reduce cases of farmer suicides further. To a question, he said farmer suicides will increase again. “It is because the government has not put proper measures in place to reduce farmers’ burden and increase his income,” he said.
To a question, he said data of the past six months are not reflective of ground realities as farmer suicide numbers swelled during harvest season. A department sources told Express that there was a decrease in the number of cases compared to previous years. Considering the trend, the number of farmer suicides is expected to be half of the number reported last year, the source said.
Agriculture Minister N H Shivashankar Reddy had also raised concerns over continued suicides by farmers, adding that the phenomenon had puzzled the government. “We are looking for measures to ensure income security for farmers to reduce the cases further,” he had said.