Although more than 1,500 farmers have committed suicide in the last three years, the govt claims that since 2001, there have been only 930 suicides.
MUMBAI: Just a day ahead of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s visit to the Vidarbha region to assess the plight of cotton farmers in the region, the Government of Maharashtra is trying its best to fudge suicide figures. Although more than 1,500 farmers have committed suicide in the last three years because of bad debts according to revenue records, the state government is trying to claim that since 2001, only 930 suicides from the region can be “qualified” as farmers’ suicides.
The defence put forward is that farmers are killing themselves all over India, not just in Maharashtra. JM Phatak, official spokesperson of the Maharashtra government in a press conference on Thursday to brief the media on the PM’s visit, made it a point to mention this, quoting an article in the April 22 issue of the Economic and Political Weekly, by one Srijit Mishra which said suicides were rising all over the world.
He pointed that the percentage of suicides recorded in states like Kerala, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Rajasthan and Goa were higher than in Maharashtra.
Although more than five agencies have toured the Vidarbha region since August 2005 and have all confirmed that suicide figures are much higher than the government’s official record, Phatak relied on the report from Vasantrao Naik Farmers’ Mission. According to this mission, he said, “in last five years, only 930 suicides in Vidarbha region qualify to be farmers’ suicides because of indebtedness.”
When queried about reports that Governor SM Krishna has expressed displeasure at the manner in which the government has dealt with the issue of farmers’ suicides in Vidarbha, Phatak said, “I do not know of any such communication but I will get information from department concerned and convey the same to the media.”
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