In the first four months of 2019, 808 farmers have committed suicide in Maharashtra, The Times of India report said. This is 88 less than the number of farmer suicides in 2018 for the same period of time. However, this averages to a disturbing seven farmer suicides every day on an average.
Maharashtra Farmer Suicides
The report also said that the Vidarbha region, Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis’s home saw the highest number of farmer suicides. The number stood at 344 by the end of April. Marathwada region, north Maharashtra and sugar belt of western Maharashtra saw 269, 161 and 34 cases of suicides respectively.
42% of the Talukas faced severe drought in 2018-19 which impacted 60% of the state’s farmers, destroying crops. Monsoon in the state is expected to hit by June 17. The state revenue minister Chandrakant Patil said, “This year, good monsoon has been forecast and we are expecting a good year for farmers.”
The 2017 Farm Loan Waiver
After an 11-day strike by the farmers of CM Fadnavis agreed to a farm loan waiver to cap the political and economic fallout of the continuing protests in June 2017. Describing the decision, CM Fadnavis had then said, “The loan waiver is for all farmers and not confined to just small and marginal categories. There will be defined parameters to ensure genuine and needy farmers are not left out of the institutional credit bracket.”
However, just six months after, reports of improper implementation and mismanagement emerged. At that time protests in Maharashtra started from Ahmednagar and quickly amalgamated in strikes and bandhs which saw lakhs of litres of milk spilt on road by angry farmers and threats of stopping supplies to urban markets.
Additionally, Maharashtra is a state which has seen a worse form of farmer distress, which ceases to ease. An RTI reply said that between January 2015 and 2018, the number of farmer suicides stood at 11,995. This was a sharp rise from 6,268 between 2011 and 2014.
Also Read: Farmer Suicides In Maharashtra Almost Doubled In 4 Yrs: RTI
