-The Hindu Too much of public discourse on Farmer Suicides could bring on unseemly haggling over the numbers. Activists and the media rightly question loopholes in the National Crime Records Bureau data, pointing out that several State governments often report no farm suicides, contrary to local media reportage. However, there is also much needless suspicion and conspiracy-theorising; the NCRB’s data are from police station-level First Information Reports, and FIRs are often...

-The Times of India As crops fail, banks don't deliver and the government falters, Mandya's farmers find themselves at the mercy of unscrupulous moneylenders Chenne Gowda has a Rs. 4 lakh albatross around his neck. The 55-year-old sugarcane farmer from Chikka maralli village in Pan davapura taluk, Mandya district, took the loan from private moneylenders but has no idea how he'll repay. His crop, on two acres, is wilting in the field...

-Hindustan Times For a country that is set to be ranked among the world’s top five economies over the next decade, India cannot afford to be counted as a home for impoverished farmers who are ending their lives because they do not have the money to return loans as small as Rs 10,000. According to the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) data, 5,650 farmers committed suicide in India last year. Bankruptcy and...

-The Hindu There has been a lot of misreporting and conspiracy theorising about the new farm suicide numbers. No doubt, these numbers – as with most crime data – likely underestimate the problem. Farmers without clear land title, for instance, may not be recognised as farmers, artificially lowering their number. The negative media reporting around farm suicides may also be an incentive against the police reporting a farm suicide as one. These...

-The Hindu Bengaluru: Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister M.Venkaiah Naidu has termed the statement made by Union Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh on farmers’ suicides in the country as “objectionable and unacceptable”, and said the mistake occurred due to "messed up data" provided by the National Crime Records Bureau. In a reply to a question at a press conference in Bengaluru on Saturday, Mr. Naidu said, “the statement as reported is objectionable and...