Another debt-ridden Jharkhand farmer commits suicide, death toll rises to 3

Jharkhand government doesn’t have a loan waiver plan but it passed an interest subvention scheme aimed at providing agricultural loans at 1% interest on June 13.

A 40-year-old farmer allegedly killed himself by consuming pesticide in Jharkhand’s Lohardaga district on Monday afternoon, taking the total number of such suicides in the tribal state to three in a fortnight.

Domna Oraon consumed the pesticide in his farm field in Jharkhand’s Lohardaga district.(Shutterstock)

Residents of Sodabhe village said Domna Oraon consumed the pesticide in his farm field around one kilometre from his house. They took him to the Sadar Hospital where doctors declared him brought dead.

His father, Jalha Oraon, said Domna had taken a loan of Rs 45,000 under Kisan Credit Card (KCC) from Gramin Bank in October last year.

“He had been in stress for last few months due to crop damage during Rabi season. Bank officials also visited the village last months and asked him to start repaying the bank loan,” Jalha said.

Domna’s brother Sanicharwa Oraon, who lives separately in the same village, said he was a small farmer and owned just 30-35 decimal of farm land. He added Domna’s two sons worked in Gujarat as daily labourers but the family’s financial condition was very poor.

The farmer is survived by his wife and five children.

Police said Oraon’s wife has been suffering from a mental disease for the last three years and was undergoing treatment at Ranchi Institute of Neuro-Psychiatry and Allied Sciences (RINPAS).

A team of district administration led by Lohardaga deputy commissioner (DC) Vinod Kumar visited the farmer’s village for an investigation on Monday evening. They interrogated the family members and villagers.

“We were told that Domna had been disturbed due to the mental illness of his wife. He also used to take anti-depression drug,” Kumar said.

“His father told us that Domna had gone to take his medicine but he consumed the pesticide mistakenly. We are, however, investigating the actual reason of his death,” he added.

Two more farmer deaths have been reported from the state in the last 15 days. Kaleshwar Mahto allegedly ended his life on June 14 by hanging himself from a tree in Simalbera village in Ranchi’s Pithoria block and Baldev Mahto’s body was found from a well in the same block on June 17.

Even as Ranchi administration set up special investigation team (SIT), probe into the cases remains inconclusive.

The Jharkhand government doesn’t have a loan waiver plan but it passed an interest subvention scheme aimed at providing agricultural loans at 1% interest on June 13.