Farmer suicides actually up if old methodology is used

NEW DELHI: The government could have patted itself on the back after National Crime Records Bureau ( NCRB) data, released on Friday, showed that farmer suicides had dropped by 50 per cent in 2014 compared to 2013. However, a study of the data shows that farmer suicides -- if counted on the basis of victims' profession as was the case earlier — have actually increased in 2014.

This could be particularly embarrassing for both the Centre and state governments as since 2009, farmer suicides have consistently decreased. From over 17,000 in 2009, the figure dropped to over 11,000 in 2013. In 2014, however, this figure — using the same methodology — would stand at over 12,000.

So how did NCRB reach a figure of 5,650 farmer suicides in 2014, registering a decline of over 50 per cent? Though there is no fudging of the data, there is some cosmetic surgery. Earlier, the definition of a farmer included land owner, those tilling land on lease and agricultural labour. This year, the government chose to take farm labour out of the ambit of farmer suicide. This took 6,710 labourers who committed suicide last year out of the farmer suicide count.



To be fair, this is the first time that the government got specific data collected on farmer suicides. Earlier, suicides were recorded under various 'profession' heads and this included farming. This exercise never collected any data on reasons for such suicide. In 2014, such data was sought from states and compiled to assess whether agrarian crisis led to farmer suicides — which has often been used as a direct reflection of farm distress.

The results have been startling. According to the latest data, actual farmer suicides due to agrarian crisis (including crop failure and indebtedness) stood at merely 2,281. This would be less than 20 per cent of the total suicides committed by farmers and labourers and less than 50 per cent of total farmer suicides last year.

It must be noted here that states have often been accused of not collecting data properly. For example, unless a farmer mentions crop loss or debt in his suicide note as the reason for suicide, the administration does not record it as suicide related to farm distress. It was in this context that Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadnavis recently announced that all farmer suicides would be considered as due to farm distress and compensation released.

The new data, however, has many positives as it shows that those tilling land on lease are less likely to commit suicide compared to the actual land owner. Of 5,650 farmers who committed suicide in 2014, 4,949 were land owners. Only 701 were tilling land on lease.

The data also showed an inverse relationship between suicide by land owners and labourers in a state. States with high land owner suicides have less labour suicides and vice-versa.