Maha polls: Farmers from Yavatmal speak up as few campaigns raise suicides issue

Baliram Jadhav, 55, a farmer from Yavatmal district’s Pimpalgaon Kale in Ner tehsil, ended his life on September 19, after he lost all hope of repaying a ₹56,000

Baliram Jadhav, 55, a farmer from Yavatmal district’s Pimpalgaon Kale in Ner tehsil, ended his life on September 19, after he lost all hope of repaying a ₹56,000 loan that he had taken from a district cooperative bank in 2008 and 2009. For the past 11 years, he had been grappling with low income from his produce and compounding interest on the principal amount.

Last year, the family managed to get input cost from cotton produce but could not get anything more. Moreover, Ner tehsil did not make it the National Disaster Relief Fund’s (NDRF) list of drought-affected areas, making it ineligible for crop damage compensation. Subsequently, the state announced that drought-hit villages left out of the NDRF list would be compensated. However, his family is yet to receive compensation.

Baliram is survived by his only son, Kisan Jadhav, 33, who suffers from an illness that prevents him from working, and daughter-in-law Rupali, 26. Baliram owned six acres of land, of which three acres have been inherited by Kisan.

Rupali, who is the sole earning member of the family, said, “He [Baliram] was very upset with the financial crunch and had expressed his annoyance a few times. However, on the day he committed suicide, he was quiet.”

“The original amount borrowed by Baliram was ₹25,000. Over the years, it increased to ₹56,000. Banks are now refusing to lend to Kisan because of unpaid loans,” said Gopal Chavan, farm activist and resident of the village. The Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Shetkari Sanman Yojana (CSMSSY), a farm loan waiver scheme, was declared in 2017. The state cooperation department had said that the government had disbursed ₹18,613 crore that would benefit 43.91 lakh farmers. However, Baliram could not benefit from it as he was not found eligible. “He had restructured the loan, which according to banks, didn’t fit in the eligibility criteria for loan waiver,” said Chavan.

Pimpalgaon Kale comes under the rainfed area of Vidarbha, which means there are no irrigation facilities available as farmers rely entirely on rainfall. However, climate change and irregular rain patterns have spelt trouble for villagers in recent years. Reported cases of farmer suicide in Pimpalgaon Kale are rare – the last one was in 2007. However, Baliram’s case shows that little has changed for farmers in the last five years.

no poll attention?

A total of 31,402 farmers in the state committed suicide between 2001 and August this year, shows data from the state relief and rehabilitation department. The state saw the highest number of cases – 3,228 – in 2015. This year alone, the state recorded 1,799 cases, of which 822 are from Vidarbha. Despite the statistics, apart from a few members of the opposition raising concerns, farmer suicides has failed to become a major poll issue.

“The state government’s policies are wrong, especially the crop pattern policy and credit policy. There is no regulation on input cost and the government has no control over output cost mechanism. As a result, their economy has collapsed and farmers continue to commit suicides. We are demanding a pro-farmer regulatory mechanism. If it continues to be a pro-market or pro-multinational companies, then loan waiver or other concessions will not be able to bring farmers out of depression and suicides will continue,” said Kishor Tiwari, a farm activist.

State finance minister Sudhir Mungantiwar said the previous governments have ignored the issue completely and this is why the agrarian economy is in its worst condition. “Irrigated land in the state is less than Uttar Pradesh. Average land per farmer has reduced to 1.34 acre from 4.41 acre. We have come up with many schemes which will happen soon. We have also sanctioned ₹600 crore to the agricultural universities for more research.

yavatmal worst-hit

Yavatmal in western Vidarbha is infamous for the highest incidences of farmer suicide. This year till the first week of October, the district saw 217 cases. Of these, only 41 cases were found eligible for compensation of ₹1 lakh from the state government. Inspection by the district collectorate is pending in 83 cases while the rest of the 93 cases were declared ineligible. As per data from the district administration, 386 farmers committed suicides in 2015. The suicide rate dropped in 2016 and 2017 with 272 and 242 cases, respectively. In 2018, it rose to 255 cases. Between 2015 and 2018, only 500 cases of the total 1,155 in Yavatmal were found eligible for compensation. “Families of the deceased are declared eligible for compensation if they fulfil any one of the three criteria set by the state government: Outstanding crop loan of the last fiscal year, recovery notice issued by the concerned bank and crop failure,” said Lalit Warade, resident district collector, Yavatmal.

In November last year, 151 tehsils, 318 revenue circles and 4,518 villages were declared drought-hit by the NDRF. According to government data, over 2.81 lakh farmers from 1,203 villages of the district were found affected. So far, the government has distributed compensation of ₹232 crore to 2.45 lakh farmers.

However, this year, the situation seems to be better due to good rainfall. “The district has received 86% of its average rainfall this year. Of total ten reservoirs, only one Arunawati has less stock (15.87%). Five are full while the rest have good amount of water stock,” said the resident district collector.

Following a rise in farmer suicide cases, the state adopted Baliraja Chetana Abhiyan, a pilot project for Yavatmal district, in 2015. “The project comprises 11 schemes under which farmers are provided financial support for various reasons i.e. mass marriage, cancer treatment, preparing for competitive exams, first year of MBBS studies, accidental deaths etc. Till date, 1,00,414 farmers have taken benefit of the schemes under the project,” said district collector Ajay Gulhane .

A closer look at the figures shows that the annual provision for the project has been reduced by the state with each passing year. In its first year, the state government has allotted funds of ₹22.03 crore for the project, which has now reduced by more than 50%. For 2018-19, the state allotted ₹7.50 crore.