Farmers' suicide: Widows living with debts, drought and loss of lives

 

The modern India has disappointed the traditional agrarian society of India and its farmers. The rising numbers of farmers committing suicide are the reality that no one can deny, and at the moment, farmers from Tamil Nadu have been protesting in New Delhi for more than a month seeking a waiver of debt and drought relief.

 

According to recent data released by National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) farmers suicide rose by 42 percent between 2014 and 2015. In 2014, the number of farmers who committed suicide was 5,650. The majority of the suicide is because of bankruptcy or indebtedness and family problems. Failure of the crop is another major reason for farmers’ suicide in India. 

 

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However, the tragedy or individual problems of the farmers do not end with death. These farmers leave behind widows forced to live in poverty, money lenders haunting them and with no apparent solution to the problems that forced the farmers to quit their lives.

 

Most of the indebted farmers commit suicide believing that the debt will cease to exist if they end their lives. However, the lenders haunt the family - mostly the widows seeking their share from the ‘compensations’ they receive from government and other organisations, reported News18.

 

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With drought crippling the coastal state the Tamil Nadu, the farmers of the state are again facing a difficult situation which might force farmers to take the extreme step. 

 

According to the News18 report, the official number of farmers who have suicide in Tamil Nadu due to drought is 82 whereas as per farmers’ group this number is more than 400. This year over 30 lakh acres of farmland has been affected by the drought and the whole state is witnessing a loss of crop; the report quoted farmers' wing head of the Tamil Maanila Congress, Puliyur Nagarajan, as saying. 

 

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At present, the Tamil Nadu farmers are protesting in New Delhi and their family is fighting their own battle for survival and then there are the widows of the farmers who committed suicide. The compensation offered to them is a temporary solution having little or no impact in the longer run. Also, who will protest these widows from the clutches of the lenders?