LAW AND POVERTY PROJECT

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...............................................................................................................................2
SUICIDE THEORY............................................................................................................................3
PSYCHOLOGICAL AND BIOLOGICAL EXPLANATIONS:..............................................................4
HISTORY OF AGRICULTURE...........................................................................................................6
SIMILARITIES IN THEIR PROBLEMS..............................................................................................7
REASONS FOR SUICIDE BY FARMERS.........................................................................................12
PROGRESS IN LEGAL FIELD.........................................................................................................16
Public Interest Litigation:.......................................................................................................16
Vidarbha Farmer Suicide Case:.............................................................................................17
Akola Case:...............................................................................................................................17
SUGGESTIONS................................................................................................................................18
CONCLUSION.................................................................................................................................20
ENDNOTES.....................................................................................................................................22

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INTRODUCTION
India is an agricultural country; one third population depends on agriculture sector directly or
indirectly. Agriculture continues to be the mainstay of the Indian economy. Indian agriculture
contributes to the national Gross Domestic Product is about 25 per cent. With food being the
crowning need of the mankind, much emphasis has been on commercializing agricultural
production. Hence, adequate production and even distribution of food has lately become a high
priority global concern. With the changing agricultural scenario and global competition, there is
a need of exploiting the available resources at maximum level.
Agriculture is the backbone of Indian economy. Agriculture in the form of settled cultivation in
India began in the prehistoric era in the Indo-Gangetic plains. Due to diversity of soil and
climate, our country is endowed with rich flora and fauna. India became one of the early centers
for the domestication of several important corps, including paddy. Agrarian distress in the Indian
country side is become a subject of great concern for the policy framers. The issue of suicides in
rural India has become a subject of great concern and is much debated both at the central as well
as State Government level. Andhra Pradesh, applauded for its reformist and hi-tech approach to
governance, has been termed as agrarian distress. The vagaries of nature have been associated
with ups and downs in cultivation. In addition, disease and pests can affect crops. When the
production is good, a glut in the market can through low prices lead to poor returns from
cultivation. Increasing cost can also adversely affect returns. Spurious inputs could also leave the
farmers in quandary. There are multiple risks in agriculture- income, yield, price, input,
technology and credit among others.
In recent years, one observes an increasing incidence of farmers suicides. We all know that
suicide is a multifaceted and complex phenomenon, the risks are identified either in the
neurobiological or socio-economic domain. The former are predisposing in nature and are
internal to the individual whereas the latter are the precipitating ones and are external to the
individual.
The features of the current agrarian crisis are briefly discussed as follows. First, there has been a
decline in the trend growth rate of production as well as productivity for almost all crops from

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the mid-nineties. Further the value of output from agriculture has been declining from late
nineties. Second, there is an excessive dependence of a large section of the population on
agriculture (in 2004-05 nearly 64 percent of the rural persons were from households whose
members major activity status was either self-employed in limited) i. Thirdly, with the increase in
family disputes which results in declining size-class of holding and an increasing preponderance
of marginal holding along with poor returns from cultivation indicates that income for farm
households is very low. Fourthly, the much talked about green revolution had a greater focus on
rice and wheat under irrigated condition bypassing crops and regions under rain fed or dry land
conditions. There has been a failure to capitalize on the vast network of institutes to provide and
regulate new technology, including the usage of biotechnology, and a virtual absence of
extension service. Fifth, the neglect of agriculture in the plan resource allocation has led to
decline of public investments in irrigation and other related infrastructure. Sixth, supply of
credits from formal sources to the agriculture sector is inadequate leading to greater reliance on
informal sources at higher interest burden. Last but not least, with changing technology and
market conditions the farmers is increasingly being exposed to the uncertainties of the product as
well as factor market.

SUICIDE THEORY
Durkheim's theory of suicide, and revisions suggested by the later theorists, focused
predominantly on the involvement of the individual with society. Sociological approaches have
stressed that different types of suicide are the result of different social circumstances. Durkheim
pointed three primary types: egoistic, altruistic, and anomic. This typology, which differentiates
between causes of suicide produced by circumstances of integration and regulation within
society and its major institutions, remains prominent today.
Egoistic suicide occurs when individuals lack adequate integration into or involvement with
society. Persons not involved in society and its institutions are not constricted by its rules,
including those that regulate and often prohibit suicide. Instead they are regulated only by their
own rules of conduct and act in terms of their own private interests. But, altruistic suicide results
from excessive integration into society and insufficient individuation. The behavior of the

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individual is almost completely determined by the social group. Such an individual may commit
suicide as a sacrifice to benefit the collective good or for the good of the large section of society.
The third major type was called anomic suicide. Anomie, or a sense of alienation, is produced by
a lack of societal regulation on an individual and therefore a lack of normative (socially
conforming) behavior. Under usual circumstances, societal regulation provides a sense of
equilibrium and limits. When changes are usually of an abrupt nature occur in the situation of an
individual or culture, equilibrium is disrupted and a state of deregulation exists. Under such
circumstances the anomic individual is left without clear norms to guide behavior. Suicide is one
possible result in this situationii.

PSYCHOLOGICAL AND BIOLOGICAL EXPLANATIONS:

Early psychological theories, and especially those of Sigmund Freud, contended that individual,
internal psychological forces, rather than social forces, could lead to depression and suicide.
According to Freud an essential aspect of understanding suicide was to view it as part of an
instinctual human tendency toward aggression and destruction. He regarded suicide as one
manifestation of his theorized "death instinct," called thanatos, as opposed to the powerful "life
instinct," erosiii. In suicides the death instinct somehow manages to overcome the life instinct.
Freud's second, considerably more complex explanation is based on the notion that an individual
who commits suicide feels aggression and anger over the loss of love objects but turns these
feelings inward on himself or herself. In recent decades, psychological theories of suicide are
prevalent and many of them continue to highlight the role of depressive disorders that produce
suicidal thoughts and actions. For example, American psychologist Edwin Shneidman has
theorized that suicidal persons share a number of attributes. Prominent among these are thwarted
or blocked psychological needs and the perception that circumstances and problems are
unsolvable and that nothing done will be helpful. That is, such persons experience a sense of
hopelessness and helplessness. As a result of constriction in their cognitive abilities, suicidal
individuals also typically fail to see alternative ways to cope with their circumstances. They are
ambivalent about suicide, however, wanting to die but at the same time wanting to live. Finally,
and most importantly, Shneidman theorizes that there exists in any suicide an unbearable
psychological pain from which the person desires to escape. He refers to this intolerable pain as

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"psychache" and contends that it is the cause of individual suicide acts iv. Suicide is prevented
when this pain, or the factors that lead to it, is reduced to tolerable levels.
Adding to these explanations of suicide, more recent research findings suggest that biological
factors possibly play contributing roles, particularly in the production of depression and
subsequent suicide. These findings have implicated biochemical substances that may be involved
in producing depression and ultimately suicide. Farmers are also affected by such psychological
pressure as a result they cannot bear that pressure and commit suicide.
Durkheim reasoned that suicide occurs in all societies but the suicide rate for various groups are
often both different than other groups within the same society and stable over time. These
differences and stability in group rates indicated that there was something other than psychology
involved in the decision to commit suicide. It is simply impossible, Durkheim insisted, to explain
or interpret the characteristics and behaviors of human groups on a psychological or biological
basis. Much of whom and what we are, of how we behave and what we believe, are due to social
forces.
As per Durkheim, Suicide can be categorized into its three sub types namely:
Egoistic suicide resulted from very less integration of individuals and the society in which they
live. Those individuals who were not sufficiently bound to social groups (and therefore welldefined values, traditions, norms, and goals) were left with little social support or guidance, and
thus tended to commit suicide on an increased basis. An example Durkheim discovered was that
of unmarried people, particularly males, who, with less to bind and connect them to stable social
norms and goals, committed suicide at higher rates than married people.
Altruistic suicide was a result of too much integration between the society and individuals. It
occurred at the opposite end of the integration scale as egoistic suicide. Self sacrifice was the
defining trait, where individuals were so integrated into social groups that they lost sight of their
individuality and became willing to sacrifice themselves to the group's interests, even if that
sacrifice was their own life. The most common cases of altruistic suicide occurred among
members of the military.
Anomic suicide is a result of a complete breakdown of a system/regulated environment rather
like the literal meaning of the word Anomie that is lack of regulation coupled with a breakdown

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of norms. Durkheim defined the term anomie as a condition where social and/or moral norms are
confused, unclear, or simply not present. Durkheim felt that this lack of norms--or pre-accepted
limits on behavior in a society--led to deviant suicidal behavior.

HISTORY OF AGRICULTURE
Agriculture was almost always supported by the Indian ruling class. The priestly class was
strongly patron of agriculture too and it argued the prosperous agriculture was the base of
empires. Taxes on farmers, which rarely exceeds one-sixth of the production, were always kept
low. Ancient literature and mythology is replete with allusions to the encouragement to
agriculture and trade. Archeological findings reveal that both wheat and rice were grown as
domesticated crops along the Ganga in the sixth millennium BC. However several species of
winter cereals such as barley, oats and legumes or lentils, and chickpeas, domesticated in south
west Asia, were grown in northwest India even before the sixth millennium BC. Some millet
such as sorghum, pearl millet and finger millet, which were domesticated in southwest Asia,
came to India more than 4,000 years agov.
In the Ramayana, Rama asks his brother Bharata, Dear Bahrat, have you ensured that all
those engaged in agriculture and animal husbandry receive your special care and attention?
In Mahabharata, patriarch man, Bhishma, advises King Yudhishtra in Shantiparva,
Agriculture, animal husbandry and trade are the very life of the people. Have you ensured
that the cultivators are not forced to deserting the country because of the exaction imposed by
you? It is indeed the cultivators who carry the burden of the king on their shoulders and also
provide sustenance to all others. The Arthashastra also mentions a superintendent of cattle
whose duty was to supervise livestock, keep a census and monitor the situation so that cattle
were reared properly. The Arthashastra gives an elaborate description of the amount of food a
bull, a cow, or a buffalo should be supplied with. Maintaining pastures and open land around
the village was encouraged. These incidents show the importance of agriculture in ancient
tomes also. At present also India is considered as agrarian country and agriculture is the base
of our economy.

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SIMILARITIES IN THEIR PROBLEMS

1. Repeated crop failure:
It is found that there has been repeated crop failure in the last four years. This crop failure has
resulted in a reduction in the productivity of the land due to a variety of reasons. These
reasons could be due overuse of fertilisers, pesticides and reliance on HYV seeds and now to
some extent on the genetically modified seeds such as the Bt. Cotton. Thus, the crop failure
becomes a cyclical phenomena and not a one-time occurrence. Heavy indebtedness is
spreading across the landholding patterns. In that context, the small and the medium-sized
cultivator is the most affected of the lot, though the large landholder in the rain-fed areas of
the state, too, is coming under strain.
Case: A male-headed household from middle caste background. This household had 12 acres
of land that has now been reduced to five acres of dry land. The farmer had to sell seven acres
of irrigated land to repay the loan he had undertaken. He also worked along with his wife as
agricultural labour. In the last five years, he had incurred a crop loan from formal financial
institutions to the tune of Rs. 10,000/-, an interest-free loan of Rs. 30,000/- from relatives, and
Rs. 5,000/- from private moneylenders. The family reported that there was a repeated crop
failure in the last three years prior to his death, non-availability of wage labour work, and zero
credit worthiness in the market. The liquor intake of the farmer had increased substantially in
the last three years prior to his suicide on 29.12.03. The government offered no compensation.
2. Inability to meet the rising cost of production:
Farmers have been spending more on fertilizers even while crop performance has been
showing a declining trend. On an average, returns to cultivation per farmer household is
Rs.11,259/- in 2002-03. To account for the drought in the said year even if one increases the
returns by one-third then also it would be less than Rs.15,000/-, which given a family size of
5.5 turns out to be less than eight rupees per capita per day. This means that other sources of
income would become necessary if the farmer household has to stay above the poverty line.
About 60 per cent and 10 per cent of farmer households obtain some returns from farm
animals and nonfarm business respectively and per farmer household monthly returns from
these are Rs.85/- and Rs.236/- respectivelyvi.

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The below given diagram explains about the problems faced by the farmers in agriculture
field. The problems like scarcity of water available for irrigation, lack of knowledge about
latest technique due to illiteracy, lack of storage facility etc are some of the main problems
faced by the Indian farmers.
3. Indebtedness:
Indebtedness is the main cause of suicide among farmers. Due to host of reasons like, ranging
from a daughter's marriage to digging a well which eventually bore no water. The
consumption expenditure of marginal and small farmers exceeds their estimated income by a
substantial margin and presumably the deficits have to be plugged by borrowing or other
means. Increased indebtedness is a major cause for the spurt in farmers suicides during recent
times across a number of states, according a recent report of the National Commission for
Enterprises in the Unorganized Sector (NCEUS).
A marginal farmer is defined as one having landholding less than 2.5 acre and a small farmer
is defined as one having less than 5 acre. In India, a majority of the farmers are marginal and
small.
Incidence of indebtedness among farmer households was highest in Andhra Pradesh (82%),
followed by Tamil Nadu (75%) and Punjab (65%)vii.
After the green revolution, agricultural activities have become cash-based individual
enterprises requiring high investment in modern inputs and wage labour as is evident from the
list of states with high incidence of farmers suicides, which are not necessarily backward or
predominantly agrarian or with low income, according to the NCEUS report.
Increased liberalisation and globalisation have in fact led to a shift in the cropping pattern
from staple crop to cash crops like oilseeds and cotton, requiring high investment in modern
inputs and wage labour. This increases credit needs. But when the prices declined farmers
have no means to supplement their incomes, the NCEUS report noted.

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Another problem is that unlike industrialists, farmers do not have access to debt relief under
any law. Being indebted to the private moneylenders, they cannot go to public authorities to
declare themselves insolvent or to get any kind of debt relief.
Huge expenditure on children's education and sudden demand of money for health
considerations and marriage, etc. in the family are also major contributors for stress in
farming community. Inconsistency of rainfall during monsoon, absence of support mechanism
for marketing of agriculture produce also contributed to uncertainty and financial risk of the
farmers.
The latest NSSO (59th round) has made the following observation that, an Indian farmers
household has an average debt of Rs.12,585.The Punjab farmers top the list with Rs.41,575
followed by Kerala with Rs,33,907, Haryana Rs.26,007, Andhra Rs.21965 and Tamil Nadu
Rs.21963(Shiva, and Jalees, 2006: 58). In fact, Andhra Pradesh witnessed highest percentage
of farmers under indebtedness (82.0 per cent) followed by Tamil Nadu (74.5 per cent) and
Punjab (65.4 per cent). In Karnataka 61.6 percent of farmers are now indebtedviii.
Nonetheless NSSO has made one more observation: more the amount of land, higher will be
the average loan outstanding. However, the NSSO data further clarified that percent of
indebted farmers taking loans from money lenders is highest (29 per cent), followed by Banks
(27 per cent), co-operative society (26 per cent) and finally from government (3 per cent).
Data of debt is given under the below table:
Table 1: Debt Farmer-wise (in Rs crore)

Small and Marginal Farmers

50524

One time settlement to other 9790

farmers
TOTAL

60314

Source: Finance Minister speech

Table 2: Debt Bank-wise

Cooperative

55%

Commercial Banks

35%

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Regional Rural Banks

10%

Table 3: Debt year-wise (in Rs crore)

From July, 2008

25,000

In Budget 2009-10

15,000

In Budget 2010-11

12,000

In Budget 2011-12

8,000

Total

60,000
Source: Finance Minister speech

4. Neglect of agricultural community in India:

The neglect of agriculture has put enormous pressure on farmers. Low yields, high input and
low market prices for agricultural produce have led to a vicious cycle of low income and
stagnation. Massive scaling down of public services, particularly in irrigation and agricultural
extension services, has dealt a blow to the sector. The distress in rural areas is reflected in
rising farm indebtedness and suicides in many countries, including China, India, Sri Lanka
and Thailand. The figures are tragic and astounding _ in India alone, almost 87,000 farmers
committed suicide between 2001 and 2005.
The Economic and Social Survey of Asia and the Pacific 2008 show that improving
agricultural labour productivity could have a profound impact on poverty reduction. For
example, raising the region's average agricultural labour productivity to the level seen in
Thailand would take 218 million people _ a third of the region's poor _ out of poverty.
India, China, Bangladesh and Indonesia would gain the most. Large gains in reducing poverty
are also possible through the comprehensive liberalisation of global agricultural trade, with
the potential to take another 48 million people out of poverty. Our research also shows that
raising productivity in agriculture will reduce income inequality significantly.
If more reasons were needed for our call to focus on agriculture, then one need only look at
the rising food prices that are being felt across the region. With the demand for biofuel
apparently unstoppable, the region needs a renewed and urgent effort to revive its agricultural

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sector to increase food production and stop food prices from spiraling even further.
Escapes survey shows that the strategy required making agriculture economically, socially
and ecologically viable and thus returning it to its rightful place in reducing poverty and
inequality is a straightforward oneix.
These causes arose out of a larger picture of globalization & the resultant neglect of
agricultural community in India.
The rural poor account for around 70% of the poor in the Asia-Pacific region, and agriculture
is their main livelihood. Agriculture appears neglected, even though it still provides jobs for
60% of the working population and generates about a quarter of the regions GDP. Growth
and productivity in agriculture are slowing, and the green revolution has bypassed millions. In
South Asia, growth in agriculture output dropped from 3.6% in the 1980s to 3.0% in 20002003. Agricultural labour productivity has a significant impact on poverty reduction. ESCAP
estimates show that a 1% increase in agricultural productivity would lead to a 0.37% drop in
poverty in the Asia-Pacific region.

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Agricultural labour productivity has a significant impact on poverty reduction. ESCAP
estimates show that a 1% increase in agricultural productivity would lead to a 0.37% drop in
poverty in the Asia-Pacific region.
Therefore, a policy priority should be to revitalize agriculture. Revitalizing agriculture
requires connecting the poor to markets through improvements to rural infrastructure, the
availability and management of water, agricultural technology, increasing the capacity to
adapt technologies, and speeding up diversification and commercialization. It also requires
improving the distribution of land and the access to agricultural credit and extension - and
making macroeconomic policy friendlier to agriculture, all enabling the poor to make a dent
on poverty by themselves.

REASONS FOR SUICIDE BY FARMERS

1. Issue of inadequate and poor availability of credit facilities to the farmers :It has been observed that the financial Institutions mainly Nationalized Banks are not
providing credit facilities to farmers as per their actual needs. The scale of finance is
extremely discriminatory, it varies region to region. In Western Maharashtra, farmers are
getting upto Rs.2,00,000/- per Hectare Crop Credit, but in Vidarbha it is extremely poor, not
even Rs.10,000/- per Hectare. It is mockery of Credit Policy and Govt. Control thereon x. The
reason for this is that banks are not carrying out the periodic review exercise for increasing
the scale of finance. In some cases it is observed that though the farmers are eligible for
increment in scale of finance, but it is not made available merely for the reason of the extra
staff / manpower for the purpose of documentation and credit papers at bank is not provided
by the Regional Offices of the Banksxi. For want of such bank documentation and paper
works, the farmers are denied the fresh incremental loans/credit facilities even though they are
eligible for enhanced credit facilities. This is indirectly causing great hardships to the farmers
and they have been denied the enhanced scale of finance / credit facilities for the failure of
banks to revise the documentation or papers. Thus, inadequate and poor availability of credit
facilities to the farmers is the main reason of exploitation of the farmers community, as they
approach private money lenders and sahukars, who all are charging exorbitant rate of interest

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for such short term crop loan or credit made available to farmers. This is ultimately resulting
in the unfortunate incidents of farmers suicide across the Vidarbha Region.
REMEDY
All the Nationalized banks be strictly advised or ordered to review the scale of finance and
accordingly have extra manpower / staff for documentation and for the paper work for
reviewing and revising the scale of finance and credit facilities to the farmers as per their
eligibility. The Banks be advised/instructed or ordered to make suitable computer software for
the purpose of assessment and documentation for providing the new scale of finance / credit
facilities to the farmers, which is being denied due to manual, lengthy, time killing and
labourious documentation system presently being implemented in the Banks and could not be
effectively made operational for want of staff and infrastructure in the Rural Sector Branches
of the Banks. The farmers who have been denied the new scale of finance be given additional
finances and credit facilities by extending the last date for such short term of loan. The forms
and formats for credit facilities to the farmers are revised in such way that the time consumed
in lengthy documentation can be avoided at the time of the review/revision of the credit limits
on account of enhancement in the scale of finance and it should be simple and easy to be
understood by farmers so that it would be advantage for farmers as well as banks. It is
unfortunate that the banks have not done computerization along with other infrastructures /
networking for the agricultural sector and as such the benefits arising out of the advantages of
new generation techniques / networking is being denied to the farmers especially in the Rural
Vidarbha.
JADHAV COMMITTEExii has accepted the suggestion given by the VJASxiii and
recommended that all the nationalized banks be strictly advised / ordered to review the scale
of finance and accordingly have extra manpower and staff for documentation and for the
paper work for reviewing and revising the scale of finance or credit facilities to the farmers as
per their eligibility.

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2. Issue of support price of cotton to be enhanced to Rs. 3,000/- per quintal:
It has been found that the rate of cotton has not been increased as compared to the cost of
input. It is not viable to sell cotton below Rs.3,000/- per quintal but since the support price is
very less, the cotton purchasing agencies are not giving any rise and the rates are maintained
just to the level of Rs.2,100/- per quintal maximum even though the national / international
market rates are much abovexiv. The increment in the minimum support price to the level of
Rs. 3,000/- per quintal alongwith monopoly guaranteed cotton purchase scheme is the
effective need of the hour. The farmers need support of the price as well as guaranteed
purchase scheme other wise market players will exploit them and the unfortunate incidents of
farmers suicides will continue unending and our civilized country will face an awkward
position in the world and for this our government has to take immediate and effective steps.
REMEDY:
The minimum support price of the cotton should be increased immediately to Rs. 3,000/- per
quintal. State Controlled Centers should be started immediately to purchase cotton from
farmers, from the first day & date of arrival of cotton crop to avoid exploitation of the farmers
at the hands of Private Players in the Cotton Trade.
It is relevant to place on record that Government of India has increased and enhanced the
support price to wheat to make it Rs. 1000/- per quintal by giving 40% hike this year xv. The
same rationale and equity principle may please be adopted for the Cotton Cultivating Farmers
in the Vidarbha Region as a Special Case, in view of the unpresented crisis being faced by the
farmers.
JADHAV COMMITTEE has accepted the suggestion given by the VJAS and recommended
that the minimum support price of the cotton be increased immediately to Rs. 3,000/- per
quintal. State Controlled Cotton Procurement Centers be started immediately from the first
day & date of arrival of cotton crop to avoid exploitation of the farmers at the hands of Private
Players in the Cotton Trade.

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3. Issue of uncontrolled & unrestricted sale of bogus & duplicate seeds:
It has been observed that bogus & duplicate seeds being sold to poor and illiterate farmers due
to Non implementation by the Govt. of Maharashtra of the Seed Control Order, 1983 issued
under Sec. 3 of Essential Commodities Act, 1955 to arrest and control the big wig seed trades
and manufacturers. This massive corruption in sale of duplicate & bogus seeds has resulted in
cheating of the farmer and increasing of debt due to improper farm yield because of poor and
bogus quality of seeds being sold freely due to apathy of State Government. This has
indirectly resulted the unfortunate suicide of the farmers who lost their crops due to poor
quality of seeds being provided to them in lack of proper administrative control by the
agriculture department quality & input of the seeds which otherwise could have been possible
due to the stringent provisions contended in the Seed Control Order, 1983 Of Essential
Commodities Act, 1955 if implemented in its true spirit & meaning. This failure on a part of
State of Maharashtra to control the quality & input of seeds is one of the prime cause for the
overall cheating and exploitation of the poor and illiterate farmers residing in the villages.
REMEDY:
For immediate control of quality & input of seeds, it is the need of the hour that the states
should be ordered by Central Government to implement the provisions of seed control order
1983 and to instruct to issue delegation of power to its inspecting officer for control of quality
& input seeds as required under sec. 12 of the seed control order of essential commodities act,
1955 which is the prime tool for the control of quality & input of seeds.
JADHAV COMMITTEE has accepted the suggestion given by the VJAS and recommended
that the state of Maharashtra be ordered by union of India to implement the provisions of seed
control order 1983 and to instruct to issue delegation of power to its inspecting officer for
control of quality & input seeds as required under sec. 12 of the seed control order of essential
commodities act, 1955 which is the prime tool for the control of quality & input of seeds.

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4 .Issue of high cost of Bt. cotton seeds:
It has also been observed that the farmers are not being given proper advice and training by
the Government of Maharashtra in Department of Agriculture since last several years. The
costly and improper BT cotton seeds which are not suitable for dry land farming is being
freely propagated and sold at a very high cost of Rs. 2000/- to Rs. 3600/- Per Kg of BT cotton
seeds, cost of which is virtually killing the farmers due to high input cost and low yield.
REMEDY:
There must be the blanket ban on BT cotton seeds in the dry land farming and rain fed areas.
This has to be done immediately in order to save the farmers from undue exploitation and
cheating. There must be ban on sale and misleading advertisement of BT cotton seeds in the
dry land areas of Maharashtra where such seeds are not useful for cultivation of cotton due to
the high cost of input as compared to the yield. The so called upgrade technology is killing the
farmers. Immediate steps may be initiated by the Union of India in this regard to stop free
trials and sales of GM and BT seeds to protect the farmer community at large.

PROGRESS IN LEGAL FIELD

Public Interest Litigation:
Expressing concern over suicide by hundreds of farmers, an advocate has filed a public
interest litigation petition seeking the intervention of the Supreme Court. Sanjeev Bhatnagar,
who is also an agricultural economist, said that in the last five years over 10,000 farmers had
killed themselves, and Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Kerala were the worst
affected. Farmers in various States were ending their lives unable to repay loans. Prime
Minister Shri Manmohan Singh admitted that farmers had not been given a fair price for their
produce and this resulted in their indebtedness, the petitioner said. The Union Government
and the States concerned were under a constitutional obligation to ensure the survival of
farmers. The Government's planning was lacking in concern for the farmers, who were
virtually left at the mercy of private moneylenders coupled with the vagaries of nature. The

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petitioner said the families of farmers, who committed suicide, needed immediate care and
redress by way of condoning loan repayment.
It was ordered by the Court that experts should probe lapses in execution of farm policy.

Vidarbha Farmer Suicide Case:

Public Interest Litigation was filed by Vidarbha Jan Andolan Samiti, President, Shri Kishore
Tiwari at Nagpur Bench of Bombay High Court on increasing of suicide rate in Maharashtra.
The Hounble High Court expressed its great concern on the entire crisis and recorded that
there was much hue & cry about the mismanagement of the various packages, hence the
respondent State has appointed a one man Committee consisting of Dr. Narendra Jadhav
The Vice Chancellor, Pune University, Pune to verify that the packages are properly executed
and to suggest the remedial measures for better implementation of the packages.
High Court also ordered govt. to file detailed affidavit on the scheme of farmers loan waiver
of rs. 71,000 crores as how far it is benefited to the vidarbha farmers in distress and also order
to table Dr. Narendra Jadhav committee report regarding implementation of package schemes
for farmers in crisis.

Akola Case:
A case was filed in Akola District Court by a debt-ridden farmer against 15 high profile
persons including UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi and Union Minister for Agriculture Sharad
Pawar. According to reports, the farmer, Dilip Ghatole, has held Sonia Gandhi and 15 others
responsible for formulating such policies which led to the untimely and tragic death of his
father Shaligram Ghatole. Shaligram, a cotton farmer, ended his life in October 2007, as he
could not repay his loans. While moving a petition in the Akola district court, the petitioner
said that the present UPA government was responsible for his fathers death. Ghatoles lawyer
Prakash Ambedkar said that a large section of farmers were suffering due to the governments
import policy, which prevents them from getting a good price for their cotton. Dilip and his
mother Kaushalyabai are facing extreme hardship in meeting the day-to-day requirements of
their family, as Shaligram Ghatole left behind a crushing debt of over Rs one lakh.
However, the opposition lawyer, who seems to be less worried over the petition, says that the

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government policy cannot be challenged in this court. It has to be raised in Parliament or in
the Supreme Court.
The next hearing of the case is on September 26.

SUGGESTIONS
Along with the suggestions given above for the respective State, there are certain other steps
also which can be undertaken by the Government to prevent such type of accident in future..
They are:

Enhance the physical interaction between government functionaries and village society
by insisting on more tours, night halts and gram sabhas by officers at all levels of the
administration. This, we feel is the absolute key to resolving many of the issues. The
number of points of direct contact between the government and the farmer need to be
increased.

Actively monitor local society, especially farmers, for signs of social, economic and
psychological distress and if possible provide social, psychological or spiritual
counselling. Alternately, the need is to set up systems that would ensure such monitoring

and counselling on a regular and routine basis.

Implement with some rigour the various provisions that already exist to safeguard the
interests of the farmer and farm workers for example, the existing money lending act,
minimum wage act etc. in case needed, these acts could be modified to remove existing
loopholes. Already moneylenders are talking of a code for self-regulation, but

government functionaries at the field level need to be more pro-active in this regard.
Increase the efficiency of agriculture extension activities. This includes spreading
knowledge about improved ways of cultivation, including responsible use of appropriate
type of seeds, fertilizers, pesticides etc., checking the quality of farm inputs and reliable
professional advice during times of trouble, like when a sowing fails or the crop is

infested with pests or the land is visited upon by a drought or excess rainfall.
Increase efficiency of various services that are delivered by the government in the name
of peoples welfare at the moment. Namely, improve the functioning of local government
hospitals that already exist, increase the number of Primary Health Centres, and provide
better roads.

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People here need immediate succor and not just sensitization about sanitation, safe
drinking water, nutrition and family planning in the name of sensitization one cannot any
more condone the absence of a basic functional health care system in the villages. Each
Panchayat needs at least one trained medical nurse who can provide such immediate
succour and guide the people to a suitable health provider in times of illness. The issue is
serious enough to be treated in the same way as we did the abolition of the Zamindari
system: with adequate political and administrative will. It might help to make suitable
regulations to this effect in the manner of regulations for Zamindari abolition.
Regulations per se do not bring about a change, but they do open up a door for
empowering people and focusing energies. The health workers salary should come from
government funds but be paid by the local people thus ensuring that s/he is accountable

to the local people in the same way that a salaried employee is.
For the long-term change, it is important to improve the condition of school education
and provide appropriate vocational education, at least at the village and taluka level to
enable the people to understand and utilise, for their own benefit, the complexities of

present day production and marketing techniques.

An important mechanism in generating a suicide epidemic is the constant highlighting of
instances of suicide. Therefore, it is important to counsel the media to stop highlighting

suicide since the fact of highlighting suicide itself adds fuel to the suicide fire as it were.
The ex gratia payment to families of those who commit suicide should be stopped. A
victim of suicide should not be treated at par with the victims of other foreseen
happenings. A family that has lost its breadwinner does need some government and
social assistance to overcome the material loses that follow the tragedy. However, the
help needs to be in some other form. One way could be by providing employment to a

member of the family or help in setting up of a small business.

Provide direct cash subsidies to actual cultivators. We have hitherto provided indirect
subsidies the benefit of which seldom seems to reach the farmer. A direct subsidy would
help the actual cultivator substantially in overcoming minor jinxes in life. It will also
ensure a minimum assured income for the actual cultivator.

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CONCLUSION
Evolutionary-psychology literature argues that a sense of burdensomeness towards kin/family
may encourage suicide by eroding the motive of self preservation. It suggests that perceived
liability towards ones family is a precursor of suicide. Renowned psychologist, Cialdini
points out that people, by committing suicide, believe that they are helping others to
counteract their own negative affective state. In the Indian farmers context, policy makers are
arguing that this negative state is that of indebtedness. But then loan waivers and cash
supports are aggravating this problem because they provide the farmers with the incentive to
make this rational decisionxvi. Perhaps these short sighted measures are having the exact
opposite effect. They are probably sending out the wrong signal to millions of distressed
farmers who are struggling to make ends meet. The government response to the crisis of
farmer suicide has been simplistic and in some cases perhaps aggravating. The main problem
with offering special packages to deal with such a problem is that it is reactionary rather than
pre-emptive long term policy. Suicides are characterized by a prior history of difficulties and
perhaps also mental illness that renders the person vulnerable to suicidal behaviour. Suicide is
caused by many factors even when it occurs in a cluster. Therefore it is crucial to avoid
oversimplification of causes and sensationalizing the issue. This requires responsible and
sensitive reporting by the media. The policy implication from the above-discussion calls for
an emphasis on the larger crisis; that of low returns and declining profitability from
agriculture and that of poor non-farm opportunities. Risk management in agriculture should
address yield, price, credit, income or weather related uncertainties among others. Improving
water availability will facilitate diversification of cropping pattern, but this should go hand in
hand with policies that increase non-farm employment

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Improving agricultural extension that addresses deskilling because of technological changes

and also facilitates appropriate technical know-how for alternative forms of cultivation such
as organic farming will be of help. Availability of affordable credit requires revitalisation of
the rural credit market. There is also a strong case for regulating private credit and input
markets.

A challenge for the technological and financial gurus is to provide innovative

products that reduce costs while increasing returns. Organising farmers through a federation
of self-help groups (SHGs) with government, banks and other stakeholders playing a proactive role would be welcome. Besides, public institutions, there is need for a greater
involvement from the civil society.

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ENDNOTES

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. Mamoria, C.B. and Badri Bishal Tripathi, Agriculture Problems of India, Kitab Mahal, Allahabad,
2007, p. 129-130.
i

ii

P.shankararao

iii

Suicide: A Study in Sociology by Durkheim, mile 2005, p. 45.

iv

Ibid.

Bibek Debroy and Amir Ullah Khan, Enabling Agricultural Markets For The Small Indian
Farmer, Bookwell ,New Delhi, 2003, p.234
v

Bibek Debroy and Amir Ullah Khan, Enabling Agriculture Markets For The Small Indian Farmers.
New Delhi, Bookwell, 2003.
vi

Bt Cotton and Farmer Suicides in India International Food Policy Research Institute, Discussion
Paper October 2008
vii

Retrieved from http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=32&ItemID=57 visited on

March 25, 2014
viii

Retrieved from http://www.ftawatch.org/cgi-bin/content/newse/show.pl?0831 April 3, 2014

ix

Taken from http://agrariancrisis.wordpress.com/category/vidharba-crisis/ April 4, 2014

C.B. Mamoria and Badri Bishal Tripathi, Agriculture Problems of India, Allahabad, Kitab Mahal,
2007, p. 421
xi

xii

The Narendra Jadhav Committee was set up to study rising cases of farmers' suicides in Vidharbha

xiii

Vidarbha Janandolan Samiti- a farmers organization

R.M.Mohan Rao, suicides Among Farmers: A study of cotton grower, New Delhi, Concept
Publishing company, 2004
xiv

D. Narasimha Reddy and Srijit Mishra, Agrarian Crisis in India, Oxford University Press, New
Delhi, 2009, p. 315
xv

Mudit Kapoor and Shamika Ravi, Farmer Suicide Contagion, Indian School of Business, Hyderabad
25/10/2007
xvi