Buzzing Blogosphere: Farmer Suicides In India

The current situation for farmers in India is a heart wrenching story. The very people who feed the nation are faced with starvation, and even a killer shortage of water. The lack of solutions to the situation has forced them to give up on hope, possibility of recovery and finally, giving up on life. 40% of Indian families that depend on farming and 55% of Indian labourers in the agricultural sector deserve a better fate than what is being handed out to them. With the IPL continuing despite large scale protests against water wastage, we take a look at the perspective of some bloggers who evaluate the rising suicides by farmers in India and what do they have to say to our political leaders.

There is a lot of talk and evidence about how Monsanto seeds are proving to be a threat to Indian farmers. That seed has, over the years taken away the means of livelihood from farmers. Dr. Vandana Shiva gives us a detailed account on the conflicting issues of the Monsanto seeds and how those issues impact the rights and livelihood of farmers.

“All aspects impact farmers rights and farmers livelihoods.

Farmers Rights to Seed = Right to Life

In the case of farmers, the right to seed is the basis of the right to life. Farmers are being trapped in debt and being driven to suicide because seed is too costly and the seed available is also unreliable. Since at the end of the day, royalty is paid by farmers, Monsanto’s royalties are violating the affordability criteria and are responsible for farmers debt, distress and suicides. First Bt I and now Bt II are failing to control pests and the pink bollworm has become resistant, Bt is failing the test of reliability.

Monsanto has collected royalty for its Bt I cotton since 2002 without having a patent for it. Instead it created a new category called “Technology Trait” for which it charged a “Trait Fee”. But it was royalty under a new name.”

Let us take a look at the comparative analysis about the situation of a farmer in India as compared to the farmers in other countries. Bringing out the core reasons as to why these suicides are happening at an alarming rate and what measures are being taken to curb them, Desh Kapoor evaluates the critical aspects.

“What creates Debt: Cycle of Crop Failures and Bankruptcy

65% of India’s cotton crop comes from small farmers – who rely on rain and are reliant on Bt Cotton seeds and its related products.  To get better yields ostensibly, the farmers get into the cycle of buying more expensive hybrid and GM seeds, fertilizers, pesticides – putting them in terrible debt.  The GM seeds like Bt Cotton have been known to do well for farmers  who have large farms and access to abundant irrigation water.  If the monsoons fail for the small farmers – so do the crops that are completely dependent on the GM Seeds/Fertilizer/Pesticide combination of Monsanto’s stable.  A peer-reviewed paper (Deconstructing Indian cotton- weather yields and suicides) written by a team led by Andrew Gutierrez, a professor emeritus at the University of California-Berkeley – suggests that small and marginal farmers – specifically those who do not have access to abundant irrigation are going to lose out from the GM crops.”

One of the major factors tightening the proverbial noose around the farmer’s neck is indebtedness. With a largely unorganized and unofficial money lending system, even one failed crop means that the farmer is unable to pay back the loan taken at exorbitant interest rates. LokRaj Blog briefly talks about how bankruptcy has turned out to be the major cause of farmer suicides.  

“A report in the New Indian Express points out that the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) for 2014 reveals that of the 70 people who commit suicide everyday in India, over 33 are engaged in agriculture.

For the first time, the NCRB data on farmer-suicides distinguishes between the deaths of agricultural labourers and the deaths of farmers. Data show that there were 12,360 agriculture-related suicides in 2014, of which 6,710 were farm labourers and the rest, 5,650, were farmers. Of these farmers, 4,087 were small and marginal farmers, pointing to the particular vulnerability of this section.

The figures also reveal that over 20 percent of the farmers who committed suicide -1,163- were bankrupt or severely indebted. As many as 965 of these farmers committed suicide after going bankrupt due to a crop loan, while 952 killed themselves due to crop failure.”

With elections, the farmers are piling up on hopes to get some relief in more than one forms. The indebtedness bill may have provisions but it fails to give a solution to the problem. After 15 years of tireless efforts from policy makers, the bill was received with huge expectations to regulate non-institutional agricultural debt, fair credit structure to farmers and a cap on maximum rate of interest to save the farmers from the exploitation by money lenders. Devinder Sharma takes us through the details. The post originally appeared here.

“The expectations from this bill were huge. Considering that it has taken 15 years for the policy makers to come up with a law that was expected to regulate the non-institutional agricultural debt, and provide a speedier settlement of debt-related disputes, the bill is a big disappointment. Effectively all it has managed to do is to pass on the burden from the civil courts to district-level debt settlement forums and a state-level agricultural debt settlement tribunal for settlement of non-institutional debt up to a limit of Rs 15 lakh.

Once the new bill becomes an Act the pending cases in civil courts will be transferred to the forums thereby lessening the burden of the courts.”

The complex system of credit structure, rising population, high dependency on agriculture for their means of livelihoods have all historically added on to the stress farmers face today. Kunal does a brief analysis as to where the problem stems from and how can we look for measures to solve them. 

“To understand where this misery stems from, one needs to look at larger historical trends around the world. For centuries, the world’s population was on a very slow growth path, with natural disasters and wars, in addition to infant mortality and lack of neo-natal care accounting for a large number of deaths. The majority of people were engaged in agriculture, which was a profitable trade for the most part. With industrialisation and advancement in medical sciences came a spike in population as well as a shift away from agriculture.”

Monsanto seeds, indebtedness and now the looming risk of crop failure because of drought. Aditi Pai takes into account how the grand IPL show will be a slap on the government, the judiciary and the people of India who will witness the cricket show, putting away the thoughts of helpless situation of farmers.

“Twenty matches of the IPL are to be played in cities of Maharashtra, including Nagpur, which lies in the severely affected Vidarbha region. Just a day earlier, Congress member of Parliament and IPL chairman Rajeev Shukla had publicly stated that the IPL would not be moved out of Maharashtra. He promised help to the affected farmers “in all possible ways”, ruling out that precious water was being wasted.

Experts say that the drought is the worst the state has seen in over a century. Farmlands are bone dry, water supply is only a trickle in areas of Marathwada, that too, once in four days. Latur, which lies at the epicentre of this acute water shortage, is a case in study. The 12 lakh residents of Latur taluka, one of the biggest foodgrain markets, have to queue up for hours to fill a bucket. Private water tankers and vendors are making a killing, selling ten litres of this precious liquid for Rs 150.”

While we continue to live our lives normally, these farmers wait for someone who can give a ear to their problems and give them a solution. Arvind Passey narrates a beautiful poem that speaks the voice of a farmer in India.

“Words won’t roll into metaphors

As they are busy staring at dried taps

Words no longer bother to rhyme

Because droughts appear without gaps

Words struggle to walk straight but tumble

It is the heat that makes them stumble

Coherence has given way to a mumble

Even anger is an inaudible rumble!”

When we talk about the helplessness of these farmers, we dare not consider how their families, especially their wives and daughters live their days in poverty and hopelessness. Kamyani looks at the women of these poverty driven families and tells us why they are the most affected due to financial problems, the norms of societies for widows and their deceased husbands unpaid debts.

“Mrs Alone says she went into a depression for a year. She was not eligible for compensation because the autopsy found liquor in Sharad’s body. Then a self-help group arrived at her door and gave her a small loan to buy a sewing machine. Now she stitches clothes, works on other people’s farms, and rents out the family plot.

Life continues to be hard, and her husband’s debts remain unpaid.

“I have told the bank and the debtors that I cannot pay anymore. I tell them, take the responsibility of my children and do what you want to do,” says Mrs Alone.

“There’s no future in farming anymore. In the villages, farmers are driving auto-rickshaws, working in brick kilns. Their daughters are sitting at home because they don’t get good grooms.

“If you come here in 10 years time,” says Ms Alone, “you will see many, many more widows.”

The government that gets elected from time to time is expected to bring in reforms and schemes that not only favour the farmers but also consider the impact of unpredictable atrocities that come with time and seasons. Hitesh D Next talks about the schemes and how they should benefit.

“Officially, the drought has affected over a third of the country — nine out of the 29 states, 248 out of 660 districts, 2,327 out of 6,800 blocks, and 96,954 out of 2,57,000 panchayats. Unlike natural disasters, such as floods and earthquakes, which destroy ecosystems in a few moments, droughts take hold slowly and provide clear warnings to policymakers, thus giving them a chance to plan and execute effective drought management strategy. Yet, once it settles in, a mismanaged drought can wipe out economic progress made over decades, pushing an entire generation back into abject[ab,jekt(pitiful,दयनीय)] poverty.”

The current IPL matches to be held in Maharashtra have drawn controversies for the huge amount of water they will utilize to keep the pitches in good condition for the matched. On the other side the farmers are dying without water. NoEnthuDa shares a perspective with us.

“At the bottom of it, the IPL is a business, with the IPL and teams having invested heavily in team building and marketing and infrastructure. They have made these investments so far hoping to recover them through the tournament, by way of television rights, gate receipts, etc.

Now if the courts were to suddenly decide that the IPL should not take place in Maharashtra, it will mean that alternate arrangements will have to be found in terms of venues and logistics, teams which have prepared grounds in Nagpur, Pune and Mumbai will have to recalibrate strategies, and most importantly, the people of these cities who have bought tickets (they clearly believe that the value of these tickets is higher than the price) will also end up losing.”

The order from Bombay High Court to shift the location of IPL matches, the amount of water to be used for the ground and the media coverage all points to how bleak the situation is turning out for the farmer who is living on less than 20 litres of water a day, if at all. Abhinav Kaiser talks about these issues in detail to bring out the ground realities on the fore.  

“The movement that the Mumbai unit of BJP started, has quickly caught the snares of the entire media, and a host of NGOs have jumped onto the bandwagon. They have raised a PIL in the Bombay high court asking for the IPL matches to be moved out of Maharashtra, to which, the judges have agreed in principle, and have allowed 1 match to continue, and could jeopardize the fate of the remaining 18 matches.

I understand that there is scarcity, a real threat to human lives in Latur district. Mumbai and Pune are the locations where the IPL matches are being planned. The distance between the two places is nearly 500 kilometers. Is there a real plan in place to transport the water to Latur? The answer is no.”

We do understand that the IPL cannot be shifted to another water abundant state given the short notice. However the situation of farmers is worrisome. Indian farmers need reforms, a stable yet favourable credit structure and schemes that allow them to live a stable life. Please share your perspective with us and we will put them forward in front of the blogosphere.