Farmer suicides register over 50 per cent drop, as data collection methodology changes

NEW DELHI: A new methodology to collect data on suicides has brought down farmer suicides by over 50 per cent this year. New data released by National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) on Friday shows that only 5,600 farmers committed suicide across the country in 2014 as compared to over 11,700 in 2013.

The new method records only those suicides that have farm distress or related reasons as the cause. Earlier any suicide by a farmer for any reason was recorded as a farmer suicide.

Maharashtra continues to be the leader with over 2,500 farmer suicides followed by Telangana with 898 farmer suicides and Madhya Pradesh with 826 suicides. The three states accounted for 45.5 per cent, 15.9 per cent and 14.6 per cent suicides respectively.

The new methodology has also catapulted Chhattisgarh in top four for the first time. Chhattisgarh with over 400 farmer suicides has replaced Karnataka (over 300) on the fourth spot. Last year Karnataka had recorded over 1,400 suicides.

Almost all of the northeast (except Assam), and states such as Bihar, Jharkhand, Rajasthan and West Bengal recorded zero farmer suicides.

The data also shows that it's the small and marginal farmers who suffer the most in the event of crop failure and at the hands of money lenders. Such farmers accounted for over 70 per cent of all farmer suicides.

The new methodology has collected data on farmer suicides under various heads of causes. 'Bankruptcy or indebtedness' and 'family problems' are major causes of suicides, accounting for 20.6 per cent and 20.1 per cent respectively of total farmers' suicides during 2014. The other prominent causes of farmers' suicides were 'failure of crop' (16.8 per cent), 'illness' (13.2 per cent) and 'drug abuse/alcoholic addiction' (4.9 per cent).

Maharashtra and Telangana, infamous for the stranglehold of private money-lenders on farmers, have kept their dubious record intact. As many as 33.4 per cent suicides in Maharashtra and 23.2 per cent in Telangana were due to 'bankruptcy or indebtedness'.

The data also shows that farmers belonging to 30-60 years age group accounted for 65.7 per cent of total farmer suicides during 2014. A total of 59 farmers (below 18 years of age) have also committed suicides during 2014.

Only 10.3 per cent of farmers who have committed suicides were senior citizens.