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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Death by distress: Nothing official about it -Amit Bhattacharya

Death by distress: Nothing official about it -Amit Bhattacharya

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published Published on Apr 14, 2015   modified Modified on Apr 14, 2015
-The Times of India

As successive spells of freak rains in March-April ravaged fields across Uttar Pradesh, a spate of farmer deaths were reported. Most of these were ascribed to suicide or trauma, as crop losses mounted and the state appeared to be reeling under a fresh agrarian crisis.

The UP government moved to provide relief, but on farmer deaths, it saw things a little differently. "There is no conclusive proof, yet, that any of the suicides that have been reported have anything to do with unseasonal, heavy rains," chief secretary Alok Ranjan told mediapersons on April 6.

That very day, TOI correspondents across the state had reported 24 farmer deaths. In the Bundelkhand region alone, NGO ActionAid said, 73 farmers had died since the beginning of March, either by suicide or trauma resulting from crop loss. A majority of these deaths, the NGO claimed, had been corroborated by its partner organizations on the ground.

Clearly, there appears to be a disconnect between the plight of farmers and the government's perception — or at least acknowledgement — of it. And the problem isn't restricted to UP.

According to the National Crime Record Bureau figures quoted by Union agriculture minister Radha Mohan Singh while replying to a question in Rajya Sabha on March 20 this year, the number of suicides committed by persons self-employed in farming/agriculture in 2011, 2012 & 2013 was 14,027, 13,754 and 11,772, respectively. Singh also gave figures for farmer suicides specifically attributed to agrarian distress, as reported by states. These were 1,066, 890 and 1,357 for the years 2012, 2013 and 2014.

So, according to the statistics, while 13,754 farmers committed suicide in 2012, only 1,066 of these deaths could be attributed to distress. In other words, out of every 13 farmers who killed themselves that year, just one took the extreme step because of issues related to farming, such as debt, crop failures and so on. In 2013, that number was one in almost nine. The figures appear absurd also because a number of states, including UP, Tamil Nadu and Jharkhand, did not send in reports on suicides due to agrarian distress. Many other states reported no distress suicides at all. Take Haryana. The state had 276 and 374 farmer suicides in 2012 and 2013, respectively, but not a single one was put down to distress.

It isn't just about inaccurate record-keeping. "Part of the problem is systemic. How do you establish the fact that a farmer has committed suicide due to an agrarian crisis? It's typically like starvation death, which is difficult to establish since long term-starvation usually leads to other illnesses and problems," says Sandeep Chachra, executive director, ActionAid India.

Local officials who investigate these deaths usually fail to make the obvious connections between the cause of death and the farmer's distress. For instance, explaining the recent deaths in UP, Alok Ranjan told STOI: "In none of the cases has the connection between crop failure and the deaths come to the fore. Somebody died of cancer, someone else, due to heart attack. Now you can't say the heart attack is due to unseasonal rains. In suicide cases, one found reasons such as family disputes."

K Nagaraj, an economist who has been studying farmer suicides, says attributing a single cause to suicide is meaningless and unscientific. "Suicide is a complex issue. There's usually an accumulation of reasons over a period of time. For instance, non-payment of debt can lead to depression followed by alcoholism, which may in turn cause quarrels within the family. Such a case will be classified as suicide due to alcoholism. "Proximate cause, or the last cause being recorded as the reason for suicide is completely meaningless," says Nagaraj.

Despite allegations by activists of systematic undercounting, suicide rates of farmers have been consistently higher than the national average over the past decade and a half. Correspondingly, there's ample evidence of high levels of agrarian distress. While the connection between the two may seem obvious, governments appear to be some distance away from acknowledging it.

The Times of India, 12 April, 2015, http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/sunday-times/deep-focus/Death-by-distress-Nothing-official-about-it/articleshow/46893480.cms


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