May
Its difficult to read or listen to a election manifesto or debate without a reference to farmer suicides in Vidarbha and other parts of India. The figures quoted are in the magnitude of about 200,000 in the last decade amongst which about 130,000 occured in the past five years (I might be slightly inaccurate in the numbers, but thats besides the point). I don’t wish to dwell on the numbers. What I want to talk about the reasons discussed and more importantly, questions left unanswered; largely because those questions seem to have gone unraised.
The reasons commonly cited are the following:
- The failure of the cotton crop (though non cotton cultivating farmers have also commited suicides) in Maharashtra coupled with a severe drop in prices as a result of insufficient monsoons
- Inadequate access to institutional credit leading to a dependency on moneylenders who charge an exorbitant interest rate leading to farmers being caught in a debt trap
- A low minimum support price for cotton and other crops
- No access to a organized healthcare and social security system
On the face of it, these are all valid reasons. They are almost too convincing not to be responsible for the suicides. In fact, they probably play a large part.
But none of these issues are new to the Indian farmer. Droughts, crop failures,a dependence on moneylenders and no access to healthcare have been a feature of Indian rural life since ages. However, suicides aren’t. In fact, even during the Great Bengal Famine of 1943 when about 3 million people lost their lives due to starvation and malnutrition, there are no reports of suicides. Yes, people died of starvation, but apparently nobody took their own lives (at least not in any statistically significant number). Think about it, these were people with no political voice, an extremely primitive irrigation system, no access to a subsidized public distribution system, continually oppressed; clearly worse off than the farmers of today, yet not commiting suicides. Why then, do farmers commit suicide in today’s age? Are their reasons we are not looking for?
In fact, no where in the world, at any given time, have people living in rural areas and countryside ever commited suicides in any significant numbers? Suicides have always been a urban phenomenon, observed in the large, lonely cities of New York, London and Tokyo.
Why then are farmers in rural India behaving like their big city counterparts?
A major reason for people commiting suicides is a feeling of being irrelevant, unnecessary, vulnerable and not being able to materially change anything – feelings attributed to people living in detached, materialistic and transactional urban societies. Rural societies have always been more close knit, with a strong feeling of community ties and relationships. Is that changing in India?
Possibly.. Today most rural people know the way people in metros live, often having aspirations to such a lifestyle. Its possible that a sense of not being able to meet those aspirations is causing the alienation that leads one to feel so vulnerable. The feeling of not being able to participate and enjoy the pleasures of a nation growing at 8% a year. The feeling of not being able to give your family the life style that they might aspire. I am not being patronizing and denying people’s right to a legitimate aspiration; but somewhere there might be a problem in the way we are approaching development and this urbanization of thought so as to speak. Maybe we need to focus on rebuilding village societies on the basis of relationships and social, family ties instead of markets. Access to markets is important, not the feeling of being a commodity in a market. Maybe we need to amend the impressions and images of an urban society that are being formed in minds of rural people. Urbanization should be interpreted to mean a more egalitarian way of life, free from the bondages of caste (while caste might be absent from urban life, class is definitely a way of life), with better access to infrastructure and education. Urban life should not be interpreted to mean a life of great wealth and comfort. Maybe we need more inclusive growth.
I really have no answers. Possibly, there are none. My point is this.
If we do not find answers, it should be because there are none or at least there are no easy ones. Our reason for not finding answers should not be the fact that we did not ask the right questions.
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6 Responses to “Of farmer suicides and questions not asked….”
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Good points. I think the whole village social structure also has changed. People might have become more individualistic.
There might be a case where some people are able to use the bank loans and reach a better social standard while others are denied access to it, leading to the discontent you are pointing out. Many reasons but no answers.
Its interesting that you speak about the social needs issue. When it comes to suicides there have been examples (quoted by leading magazines of our country) that many farmers lose lot of money through gambling. Another significant loan that farmers are unable to repay are daughters’ dowries.
One more thing about the desire to improve the social class. I think the increasing penetration of technology is actually causing the desire to rise faster. New technology is invariably aspirational, and the onset of a swathe of it should be looked into as a cause
@ maximus
That’s an interesting point and something that I kind of alluded to. Are people relatively happier in adverse circumstances when everybody around them faces equally adverse circumstances than when their own situation is better than their previous state, but others are more better off? In other words, do we feel happier when others are equally unhappy?
It reminds me of a documentary I watched sometime back, one of the farmers said they were given cows by local authorities to prop up their alternative income but they had to spend more money on feeding the cow than they earned from it. Another case in point was how the government compensation under the much publicized 60,000 crore package bypassed many farmers who had bigger but unproductive areas of land. Perhaps government officials could’ve been more sensible while designing any relief measures before putting money into something that does not help the situation……….
I have severe doubts about the news of 8% growth story reaching the farmers. Most of those who committ suicides comes from abjectly poor areas that have no access to electricity or other basic facilities.
In Andhra Pradesh, at least, a majority of the farmer suicides are due to the fact that several of their crops go unsold and rot in godowns.
let us also not ignore the fact that GDP is a very very misleading figure – it gives only an OVERALL picture of the economy, and not the micro picture.
without going into arguments like “the rich are getting richer, and poor are getting poor” – it is to be mentoned that the development programs have not reached succesfully to the grassroots.
Overarching national policies do not cater to local variations in climate, rainfall, economy, even society. The 60,000 crore loan waiver has a number of flaws, like the NREGA. The 10 paisa reaching the needy out of 1Re argument is still very very relevant.
Microfinance has been analysed and looked at from very macro perspective – most of the analyses are carried out by visiting the taluka HOs, and not to the actual receipents. So w enever get to know their effectiveness.
the 15 paisa reahcing out of 1 re argument is still very valid
@ Kaushik
I get your point about lack of development. Having said that, crop has been going unsold and rotting in godowns since ages. Why then are suicides a recent phenomenon?