More articles by

Deepak Tiwari
Deepak Tiwari

FARM CRISIS

16 farmers commit suicide in 10 days in Madhya Pradesh

farmers-suicide-reuters over 1,932 debt-ridden farmers took the extreme step in Madhya Pradesh in last one year | Reuters

Over 16 farmers committed suicide in the last 10 days in Madhya Pradesh taking the tally to over 1,932 in last one year. Farmers committing suicide due to distress over debts and problems of low costs suddenly increased in last fortnight after the farmers' agitation began and six people were killed in police firing.

In Dhamdha of Narsinghpur district, farmer Lakshmi Prasad committed suicide by hanging on Tuesday. Another farmer Babulal Verma of Hosnagnabad, who burnt himself on Monday, died in a Bhopal hospital on Tuesday. He was brought to government-run Hamidia hospital with 60 per cent burns.

On Tuesday, fifty-year-old farmer Bansilal Meena hanged to death in Sehore district’s Jamania Khurd village. Bansilal was under depression due to debt burden and pressure from moneylenders. His nephew and village Sarpanch Jagdish Patel said that Bansilal had taken a loan of Rs 2.50 lakh from a local bank and Rs 56,000 from the local co-operative society.

Jeewan Lal Meena, another farmer of Sayarbamora village in Vidisha, committed suicide on Sunday while Murlidhar of Harda district attempted suicide by consuming poison on Monday.

Farmers sucide is not new to Madhya Pradesh. Last year, Home Minister Bhupendra Singh had admitted in the assembly that 3,469 suicides took place between July 1, 2016 and November 15, 2016. He said out of these, 531 were farmers and farm labourers.

Between November 16, 2016 and February 27, 2017, a total 1,761 suicide cases were reported in the state, out of which 106 were farmers and 181 were farm labourers. 

According to state crime record bureau, a total of 10,293 cases of suicides were registered in 2015, of which 6,294 were men and 3,999 were women. 

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Topics : #Farmer suicides

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