When Madhya Pradesh Home Minister Bhupendra Singh made a bizarre statement in the state Assembly the other day, stating in a written reply that some of the 418 farmers who committed suicide in the past three years were “possessed by ghosts”, he transcended all limits of insensitivity. The statement itself led to a round of laughter with senior BJP member Babulal Gaur wondering whether this was the idea behind the proposal for setting up a ‘department for happiness’.
Whatever be the reason, the remark only reflects the casualness with which political leaders treat farmer suicides. With more than 315,000 suicides in the past 20 years, it is nothing short of a serial death dance being enacted on the farm. In fact, in lot many ways it is a political statement being made by farmers as an expression of their anger against the continuing agrarian crisis. But unfortunately the message that they hope to leave behind has failed to stir the nation’s collective consciousness.
One is reminded of Maharashtra BJP MP Sanjay Dhotre, who earlier said, “Let the farmers fend for themselves. If crops fail, they will figure out what to do. And, if they are dying, let them die …Those who can afford farming will do it, others will not.” Union Minister Nitin Gadkari too had made a shocking statement when in an obvious reference to the lack of irrigation he said he watered plants in his New Delhi bungalow with his urine. One doesn’t know whether he was expecting farmers to spend the entire time urinating the crop fields like wheat or sugarcane but his statement showed how disconnected he was from the harsh realties.
Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh too earned the public ire when he ascribed failure in love to be among the several reasons for farmer suicides. Well, let’s accept it. Farmers too suffer failed marriages and love affairs, and many a time they are also forced to end their life for social and personal reasons, but to trivialise a massive human tragedy is indicative of the apathy with which the tragedy is viewed. Nothing can be more devastating to know that every hour two farmers take their life somewhere in the country.
While nothing so far has remotely managed to stem the tide of suicides, with Maharashtra Agriculture Minister Eknath Khadse even acknowledging that his government had no solution, former Defence Minister A K Antony’s reaction to the news of suicides by Army soldiers is applaudable. Alarmed by the rising suicides in the armed forces, he called for a brainstorming session with three vice chief of services, the defence secretary and head of the Defence Institute of Psychological Research to find out the reasons and take measures to stop the increasing suicidal tendency among the lower ranks. This was in 2012.
Between 2003 and 2012, nearly 1,000 soldiers committed suicide. On the contrary, between 1995 and 2011, as stated in Parliament by then Minister of State for Agriculture, Harish Rawat, 290,470 farmers had taken the fatal route. This means, about 17,000 farmers were dying on an average every year. While suicide by 100 soldiers a year had prompted the defence minister to act, 17,000 farmer suicides had failed to evoke any emergency response from the agriculture minister. Sadly, farmer deaths mean nothing, except they add onto statistics.
Devinder Sharma is an Agriculture specialist
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