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No let up in India farm suicides
by Sanjay Jha | May 5, 2008 at 08:01 pm | 1019 views | 18 comments | 19 recommendations
Despite Indian government's special package to millions of debt ridden farmer, Incidence of suicide among Indian farmers has continued to rise.
The rate of farmer suicides in India's Maharashtra state has gone up in recent years despite expensive relief schemes, a government report says.
It blames poor implementation and lack of co-ordination between government agencies for the failures.
Thousands of farmers have committed suicide in Maharashtra in recent years, saddled by debts they could not repay.
The state and the federal government together pledged more than $1bn to provide relief to farmers in distress.
May 5, 2008 at 08:01 pm by Sanjay Jha, 1019 views, 18 comments
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Most RecentMost Recommended Comments (18)
at 20:36 on May 5th, 2008
Sanjay Jha, it's a tragic trajectory.
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Jonathan Elliottat 01:30 on May 6th, 2008
Hi, Jonathan Elliott here, glad you got in touch about my photos on Flickr, I have more if you're interested. My email and details are at elliottmedia.net you can email me direct at jonathan@elliottmedia.net, thanks, Jonathan
at 21:18 on May 5th, 2008
Took this picture in West Bengal and tried to capture the back breaking work of Land less labours. These days also the small farms hire these labours of a day to day basis and let them carry out their work sometimes with bare hand.
kuntal41101 has contributed a photo to this story.
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challiyanat 21:27 on May 5th, 2008
Kerala had never been self sufficient in agriculture. ITs just because theweather is so unpredictable that the business has never been promising on a longer run.. and those farmers have been rejecting any proposals as such..
challiyan has contributed a photo to this story.
at 21:50 on May 5th, 2008
Thanks for Sharing Sanjay.
at 22:20 on May 5th, 2008
Thanks Shweta, Regds
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Jonathan Elliottat 01:28 on May 6th, 2008
This woman's husband killed himself by drinking weedkiller in 2005, she lost her land and livelihood and now works as a day labourer for less than 50 cents a day. She has two children to support.
Jonathan Elliott has contributed a photo to this story.
at 02:39 on May 6th, 2008
Great story, Sanjay! Maybe that's not the right word for it. The farmers I know in Sri Lanka are often tempted to sell some of their miniscule landholdings to pay off the creditors, but that only makes things worse in the future.
at 03:33 on May 6th, 2008
Sanjay Jha, I like this story. It's good stuff.
at 03:50 on May 6th, 2008
Increasing yields with less water.
These women in Tamil Nadu state in South India are participating in a pilot project by the state government to increase yields of paddy (rice) but requiring up to 40% less water. The seedlings are planted singly, not in bunches, an exact distance apart (see the woman with the measuring string). The plants have greater room to grow and the even rows allow weeding with a $3 mechanical rotary hoe which churns the weeds into a free fertilizer. See http://iamwarm.org/noteiamwarm.htm for further information.
Michael Foley Photography has contributed a photo to this story.
at 04:06 on May 6th, 2008
farmers in india, i imagine, just like all other impoverished groups, have no access or little access to organised credit systems and the only option at their disposal is of approaching professional moneylenders who charge very high interest rates. anyhow, in this chance encounter with some farmers in jodhpur when i was visiting there (i am uploading their picture) they seemed to be quite prosperous, as was apparent from their shopping spree. in pakistan we still suffer the fuedal system which was done away in india 60 years ago.
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Rajib Singhaat 04:58 on May 6th, 2008
A farmer sprays pesticides in a paddy field in India.
Rajib Singha has contributed a photo to this story.
at 06:46 on May 6th, 2008
Sanjay Jha, I like this story. It's good stuff. its most saddening to knw tht the absolute and total lack of co ordination between the goverment and the ngo's and the farmers. it's appalling to knw tht the people who are empowered to help the famers who feed the nation, or more often than not the people who are responsible for utilizing these funds for their own benefit. Will post more in detail at a slightly later time.
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pankaj1at 09:03 on May 6th, 2008
Vidarbha remains a grim statistic. One suicide in every eight hours. More than half of those who committed suicide were between 20 and 45, their most productive years. The Maharashtra government says as many as 1920 farmers committed suicide between January 1, 2001 and August 19, 2006. Nearly 2.8 million of the 3.2 million cotton farmers are defaulters, reports Jaideep Hardikar
pankaj trivedi has contributed a photo to this story.
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bwdalyat 09:20 on May 6th, 2008
at 11:47 on May 6th, 2008
I was not at all aware of this situation when I recently visited India, and find it very sad that the numbers continue to rise despite the government's aid.
Karianne_Rygh has contributed a photo to this story.
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Anne Gaëlle Ricoat 18:30 on May 6th, 2008
This photo was taken in Hampi in January as the farmers planted the rice. What marked me it's that there were almost only women in fields.
Anne Gaëlle Rico has contributed a photo to this story.
at 03:18 on October 31st, 2008
Sanjay Jha, I like this story. It's good stuff.