Question

Give your personal response to the following statement.

Farmers’ suicide is increasing.

Answer 1

Farmer suicide is a serious social problem. 

1. In India, we have in recent times seen instances of flooding and drought simultaneously in different parts of the country and also in Maharashtra. Under such situations, crops get completely destroyed and it creates adverse conditions wherein farmers find it extremely difficult to engage in gainful agricultural activity.
2. The impact of globalization has led to increasing in marketization and the resultant rise in consumerism. The dumping of agricultural produce in India due to the free-trade policy has adversely affected the pricing of local products.
3. Farmers who take loans from government agencies, private individuals, or organizations, are often unable to repay loans and their interest if the crops fail for one or more seasons. The impoverished farmers live a life steeped in debt.
4. Farmers may not be aware of new technologies and farming methods. This lack of awareness becomes an impediment to their progress.
5. Farmers in India’s villages belong to various categories such as large farmers, medium farmers, small farmers and landless labourers. The zamindars are farmers with large land holdings. Zamindars have greater economic security than farmers with small land holdings. Landless agricultural labourers are the largest section of farmers who depend on others’ land for survival.
6. The custom of dowry has wreaked havoc on farmers in rural India. Often, they end up borrowing money from institutions or money lenders on the pretext of agricultural needs, but end up utilising the loans for personal purposes such as giving in to dowry demands. This social evil continues despite the law which treats its practice as a criminal offence. This has been seen in the case of suicides in the Vidarbha and Marathwada regions of Maharashtra. Therefore, the farmers’ suicide is increasing.