Mumbai: Seven farmers in Wadad, Wardha district, in the suicide-prone region of Vidarbha in Maharashtra, have sought permission from the district administration to kill themselves, after being denied relief aid since January 2015.
The dry spell across the state has already triggered distress among farmers, by now facing two years of hailstorms and drought — a situation that has led to 23 farmer suicides in July alone as crops sown this season have been damaged.
“Now, seven farmers — Kishor Ingale, Bhanudas Wadadkar, Pankaj Gawande, Kundabai Lonkar, Shankar Khadase, Kamala Warhade and Vasanta Gingavkar — who are facing starvation, have approached authorities requesting permission to take their own lives,” said Kishor Tiwari, who represents a farm activists group called Vidarbha Jan Andolan Samiti (VJAS).
The group has been documenting farmers’ suicide data since 1995 and has now released a list of 23 farmers who killed themselves between July 2 and 12. Hailing from various villages of Vidarbha’s districts of Wardha, Amaravati, Yavatmal, Akola, Bhandara, Buldhana, Chandrapur, Washim and Akola, Tiwari says that most of the recent victims are tribal or are from backward communities who are denied fresh crop loan and relief aid from the government.
Following the initial spell of rainfall in June, most farmers began planting crops and 70 per cent of the state’s farm lands were sown so far. But with the state having received just 16.6mm of rain this monsoon, seeds that were sown have been completely damaged in the dry land areas of western Vidarbha resulting in the repetition of the same drought-like situation, said Tiwari.
As the rains failed this year, too, dry land farmers have lost the money they spent on sowing, which can be anywhere from Rs8,000 (Dh462) to Rs10,000 an acre, dependent on the crop.
“In the struggling rural economies of Vidarbha and Marathwada regions, many farmers have had to borrow money from private money lenders as banks failed to give fresh crop loans. Hence, they have been pushed into further debt, resulting in a fresh spate of suicides.
“It is mostly cotton farmers who are in deep distress and killing themselves hence prompt intervention from the state and centre is needed,” urged Tiwari. He says farmers were hopeful when Chief Devendra Fadnavis, who hails from Nagpur in Vidarbha, became chief minister “but he is only concerned about his image before the media and public,” he alleged.
