Widows, mothers of farmers who died by suicide join stir at Delhi’s Tikri border

Holding photographs of their loved ones, the women were seen raising slogans against the new farm laws at the Delhi-Haryana border in Tikri near a separate stage set up by Bharatiya Kisan Union (Ugrahan).

A 56-year-old woman whose farmer husband died by suicide five years ago; a 70-year-old who lost her daughter-in-law, the sole earner of the family, a decade ago; and a 60-year-old mother whose son consumed poison in 2010 were among the several people from farm families who joined the protest at Tikri border on Wednesday.

Relatives of farmers who are believed to have died by suicide over debt issues, seen holding photographs of the deceased during the ongoing protest against new farm laws, at Tikri Border in New Delhi. (Amal KS/HT PHOTO)

Jasbeer Kaur, 56, a farmer from Kakarwal village of Sangrur district of Punjab, said her husband ended his life in 2015 after he failed to repay his farm debts. “Our lives had stopped the very day. We just could not ever overcome the loss. Things got more worse after that. We had to sell the two-acre land and my 16-year-old son is now working on someone else’s farmland. I still have to repay a loan of Rs4 lakh,” she said.

Holding photographs of their loved ones, the women were seen raising slogans against the new farm laws at the Delhi-Haryana border in Tikri near a separate stage set up by Bharatiya Kisan Union (Ugrahan).

The women said they had decided to join the stir at Delhi’s borders because the three new farm laws will “lead to more farmers ending their lives”.

To be sure, the suicide cases are not linked to the new farm laws, which were approved by Parliament in September. However, farmers’ suicides, a long-standing issue in India, have been linked to farmers’ indebtedness, poor crop prices and price volatility.

Relatives of farmers who are believed to have died by suicide over debt issues, seen holding photographs of the deceased during the ongoing protest against new farm laws, at Tikri Border, in New Delhi Wednesday.

A Reserve Bank of India (RBI) study in 2019 warned that farmers were taking on more agricultural loans than is required to meet cultivation costs based on prevailing prices.

As many as 10,281 agriculturists (5,957 cultivators and 4,324 farm labourers) died by suicide in 2019, accounting for 7.5% of total suicides in the country, according to official data.

Sarjeet Kaur (60), said her 28-year-old son died by suicide in 2010 as he could not repay the debt of ₹10 lakh. “He was our only son. We are still under huge debt despite selling our three-acre land. Both my husband and I work on our neighbour’s farmland. Now, these new farm laws will further reduce the income of farmers and will force more farmers to meet a fate like my son’s. We do not want anyone to go through what we have faced,” she said.

The protesting women said that debt has increased over the years. Mahinder Kaur, 55, whose husband died by suicide in 2015, said, “He ended his life because he could not repay a loan of ₹5 lakh. Now, that loan has increased to ₹15 lakh. I can’t end my life and leave my children alone. We are also here to ask the government to either give us compensation or waive our debts. This debt-ridden life is a slow death.”

Harpreet Kaur, president of BKU (Ugrahan) women’s wing, said, “We had requested these women to join the stir to make the government understand that farmers have been struggling for years due to anti-farmer policies. The new farm laws will make the situation worse for them and trigger more suicides.”