On February 13, Shri Bhupender Yadav, Minister of Labour and Employment, provided the Lok Sabha with information regarding the number of profession-wise suicides that took place in the country during 2019 to 2021. Basing the same on the latest published data of the received from National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), the data reveals that in the year 2019, 2020 and 2021, over 5,000 farmers died by suicide across India each year. Answering in response to a question raised by Shri Su.Thirunavukkarasar(INC), the ministry provided the data.

According to the data, as many as 5,318 farmers died by suicide in 28 states and eight union territories in 2021. There is a slight decrease in the number of suicides in comparison to the previous years, as the number was 5579 in 2020 and 5957 in 2019. The state-wise data for the same has not been available by the Ministry.

These number come as a rude awakening to the worrisome state of farmers in India. The consistently high numbers of farmer suicide over these years, while a variety of relief measures, such as providing loans at lower rates of interest, sometimes free of any collateral, has been implemented do not appear to have helped arrest this tragic trend where those who till the land, are forced to take such a drastic step.

As per the data provided by the NCRB for the year 2021, suicides by the farmers accounted for 6.6% of total suicides victims (1,64,033) in the country. Out of 5,318 farmer/cultivator suicides, a total of 5,107 were male and 211 were female. Unlike previous years, the NCRB did not provide a state-wise data for the same.

The complete answer can be read here.

State-wise data of the year 2020

According to the data provided for the year 2020, as many as 5,570 farmers died by suicide in 28 states and eight union territories in 2020. Of these 2,567 were from Maharashtra alone. Karnataka came in second with 1,072 deaths by suicide.

In 2019, across India, 5,945 farmers died by suicide, out of which 2,680 were from Maharashtra and 1,331 from Karnataka. In 2018, as many as 5,747 people died by suicide, of which 2,239 were from Maharashtra and 1,365 from Karnataka.

States like Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Punjab and Chhattisgarh also recorded hundreds of deaths every year during this three-year period.

In 2020, Andhra Pradesh saw 546 suicide deaths, while Telangana saw 466, Punjab 174 and Chhattisgarh 227. In 2019, Andhra Pradesh saw 628 suicide deaths, while Telangana saw 491, Punjab 239 and Chhattisgarh 233. In 2018, Andhra Pradesh saw 365 suicide deaths, while Telangana saw 900, Punjab 229 and Chhattisgarh 182.

No suicide deaths were reported from Haryana, Jharkhand, Goa, Uttarakhand, West Bengal, and the Union Territories of Chandigarh, Delhi, Lakshadweep and Puducherry.

Budget cuts in allocation for agriculture sector

This comes after Farmers’ Organizations slammed the Union Budget 2023-24, alleging that the Centre has “literally taken revenge” on farmers for their historic movement that caused the roll-back of the three agricultural laws by lowering allocations in every major scheme, including Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme, PM Kisan Samman Nidhi Yojana and PM Fasal Bima Yojana. Farmers had anticipated the finance minister to announce something to provide them minimum support price (MSP) as per the Swaminathan Commission formula of paying them 1.5 times remuneration of cost prices, according to Ashok Dhawale, head of All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS).

Farmers, according to Dhawale, are facing issues such as climate change, recession, and growing input costs. Nonetheless, the Centre chose to reduce agriculture allocation from Rs 1,24,000 crore in 2022-23 to Rs 1,15,531.79 crore this year. Dhawale stated that Rs 60,000 crore was insufficient, citing the PM Kisan Samman Nidhi Yojana, which gave monetary help to 12 crore farmers.

There has also been a drastic cut in fertiliser subsidies from Rs.2,25,000 crore in 2022-23 Revised Estimates (RE) to Rs.1,75,000 crore in Budget Estimates (BE) of 2023-24, a 22% cut of Rs.50,000 crore. 

Protest against the Anti-Farmer budget

On February 9, the Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM), an umbrella platform of various farmers’ unions, announced that a ‘Kisan Mahapanchyat’ will be organised outside the Parliament in Delhi on March 20.

Farmers’ unions have also announced that the motive behind holding this ‘Mahapanchayat’ will be to fight for a legal guarantee on the minimum support price (MSP), terming the 2023 Budget as “anti-farmer.”

The SKM’s demands include, among other things, the withdrawal of cases against farmers, a Rs 5,000 monthly pension for farmers, debt forgiveness, the dismissal of Union Minister of State for Home Ajay Mishra, whose son is an accused in the Lakhimpur Kheri violence, and compensation for those who died during the farmers’ strike.

Senior SKM leader Dr Darshan Pal after the meeting of the farmers’ unions at Kurukshetra in Haryana told The New Indian Express that the body has decided to hold ‘Kisan Mahapanchyat’ in Delhi on March 20 and they will seek permission for it to be held at the Ram Lila ground, and if not given permission then they will hold it at Jantar Mantar.

Protesting farmers lathi-charged in Maharashtra

On February 12, Maharashtra Congress president Nana Patole accused the Buldhana police of unleashing a “brutal baton charge” on farmers during a demonstration and demanded that the district superintendent of police be suspended (SP). Patole claimed that the Buldhana police “brutally lathi-charged” the farmers on February 11 as they were protesting for the proper price for cotton and soybeans, as well as compensation for those who had lost crop insurance.

According to the New Indian Express, Congress district president Rahul Bondre and former minister Rajendra Shingane were also halted by police while on their way to visit the protesting farmers. Patole also condemned the Shinde-Fadnavis government and decried the “police crimes” against protesting farmers, claiming that the farmers were simply expressing their democratic right to demand a fair price for their produce.

Patole argued that under the BJP’s control, farming is no longer cheap due to the high cost of fertilisers, seeds, and diesel. Crops were devastated owing to natural calamities this (financial) year as well, and farmers from 16 districts incurred losses, according to Patole.

Related:

‘Kisan Mahapanchyat’ to be held outside Parliament on March 20: Samyukta Kisan Morcha

Mazdoor Kisan Maha Panchayat staged by Besonika Mazdoor Union in Manesar 

Samyukta Kisan Morcha stages Peoples panchayat in Hariram

Kisan Mahapanchayat calls for harmony, right-wing adds communal twist

UP: FIR Against Farmers After Stray Cattle Herded Into School; Union to Hold Protest

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While the 19-year-old Kisan Credit Card (KCC) Scheme, hopes to allow farmers to double their incomes by providing them with crop loans at interest rates as low as 4% to purchase better farm equipment, seeds and an ATM card to meet household expenses, some farmers are made to pay insurance premia they don’t want; others are forced to take informal loans to pay the KCC interest on time.
 
The second programme is the decade-old Agricultural Debt Waiver and Debt Relief Scheme (ADWDRS), which allows farmers to have direct agricultural loans waived by issuing full waiver certificates that qualify farmers for fresh loans, or by partial waivers that are credited to their accounts. But 44% of rural houses that borrow from informal credit sources are ineligible because ADWDRS loans are formal loans from banks or other financial institutions, and one in three eligible farmers over ten years to 2007 did not receive the certificates they needed to apply for new loans.
 
For perspective, Rs 10 lakh crore is 5.3 times the size of India’s agriculture and rural budget and 20.4 times the health budget for 2017-18.
 
In the first part of this series, we investigated how growing farm debt is associated with increased farmer suicides in an era of climate change and crop failures, increasing dependence on professional moneylenders charging interest that can be four times higher than the banking system.
 
In this second part, we explain how the government budget spends more than ever on agricultural credit and although official programmes have helped farmers earn more money, loopholes and inefficiencies withhold benefits, and eventually force them towards moneylenders and other informal sources of credit.
 
The continuing–and growing–lure of moneylenders and other informal credit
 
Professional moneylenders–who can charge up to four times more interest than the government’s banking system–hold more rural debt than ever: From 19.6% in 2002 to 28.2% in 2013.
 
The government has constantly tried to improve agricultural credit: By nationalising commercial banks in 1969–so they could be forced to lend money to the agricultural sector– to setting up regional rural banks in 1975 and the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) in 1982.
 
In 2017-18, as we said, the government budget of Rs. 10 lakh crore towards agricultural credit, was the highest ever, up from Rs. 9 lakh crore the previous year and a 9.3 time increase from Rs. 1,08,500 crore in 2005-06.
 
 
Source: AGRICOOP Annual Reports, India Budget.
 
From 2005-06 to 2017-18, the budget allocation towards agricultural credit has increased 9.3 times— to Rs. 10,00,000 crore.
 
Though the government has always spent more than its budget towards agricultural credit–105.6% in 2012-13, for instance–rural households continue to borrow money from informal sources (moneylenders, family and friends) because conditions are flexible and often no collateral is required, as we mentioned in the first part of this series.
 
We analysed two well-meaning government programmes–the KCC and the ADWDRS–to explore why the government fails to displace informal sources of rural credit.
 
Kisan Credit Card may lead to higher incomes, but also involuntary insurance premia
 
The KCC was introduced in 1998, so farmers could purchase seeds, fertilisers and pesticides on credit and withdraw cash through ATMs, subject to credit limits. In 2004, the KCC was expanded to include term loans for agriculture and allied activities. For marginal farmers (those who own up to 2.5 acres of land) KCCs are more flexible, covering warehouse-storage credit, consumption expenses and small-term-loan investments to purchase farm equipment or start mini dairies.
 
Farmers with a KCC could earn nearly Rs 1.49 lakh every year, according to this 2016 NABARD estimate, double the Rs. 69,850 they might earn without one.
 
But a KCC automatically registers farmers with a crop-insurance programme, regardless of consent, and money is deducted from their bank accounts as premia towards crop insurance that they may not want, The Wire reported on 31st March, 2017. Some farmers have not received insurance payouts, despite paying these premia.
 
Eligible farmers denied necessary certificates, some benefits routed to ineligible beneficiaries
 
In 2008, the government of India announced the ADWDRS, which allowed the waiver of debts related to direct agricultural loans given upto March 31,2007 and overdue as on 31st December, 2007, if these loans remained unpaid up to February 29, 2008. Small and marginal farmers would receive 100% waivers, while other farmers would receive a rebate of 25%, provided they paid the balance 75%.
 
Nearly 13.5% of eligible farmers did not receive benefits amounting to Rs.3.58 crore, according to a 2013 CAG report on the 2008 debt-waiver scheme. Instead, 8.5% of farmers who received benefits were ineligible–these loans were for non-agricultural purposes; the CAG report does not say how they got these loans–and their waivers amounted to Rs. 20.5 crore.
 
Debt-waiver certificates were not issued to 34% of eligible farmers. Farmers need these certificates to apply for fresh loans. Loans amounting to Rs. 164.60 crore were waived in violation of the scheme’s guidelines.
 
Farmers return to informal sources despite loan waivers
 
Only farmers who borrow from formal sources, such as banks, are eligible for loan waivers. As we reported, nearly 44% of rural debt is held by non-institutional agencies.
 
However, those who borrow from institutional sources only get a partial waiver, as a large portion of their expenses is non-farm related. Some farmers hold multiple loans, which means they need multiple loan waivers. Agricultural labourers who do not hold crop loans are not considered.
 
Some households who received full waivers went on to increase their borrowings from informal sources, and such waivers can encourage future defaults, according to a 2011 World Bank study.
 
Despite crop failures, farmers were eager to repay their KCC loans, which are interest-free  if paid within a year, according to a 2017 study by Stanford University’s Center on Global Poverty and Development. So, they take loans from informal sources at high rates of interest. Once the new KCC loan was given, they used it to repay informal lenders, leaving them with lower incomes.
 
States with a high proportion of indebted farmers reported a higher share of informal loans, making these farmers ineligible for debt waivers, according to a 2017 RBI paper.
 
To provide credit at an affordable rate to boost agricultural productivity, in June 2017, the Union Cabinet approved an Interest Subvention Scheme, which allows farmers to access short term loans upto Rs. 3 lakh at 4% per annum.
 
(Nair is an intern with IndiaSpend.)

Courtesy: India Spend
 

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