DATE 15.09.

2014

NATIONAL LAW INSTITUTE

UNIVERSITY,BHOPAL

AN ANALYSIS
OF

FARMERS SUICIDE IN INDIA

SOCIOLOGY-I

SUBMITTED TO:

SUBMITTED BY:

DR. TAPAN R. MOHANTY

SAAHIL KHARE
2014 BALLB 13
A-1395

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Chapter

Page
No.

Title
Table of contents

Statement of Problem

Review of Literature

II
III

Objectives
Hypothesis
Collection Of Data

IV
V

Data Analysis and Interpretation

VI
Chapter
-1

Introduction

1-3

1.
1

General

1.
2

Indian Farmers crisis : History and

Background

1.
3

Types of Suicide as per Durkheim

Nature of Suicide in India and

Durkheims View

2.
1

Nature of Suicide in India

2.
2

Durkheims View

Chapter
-3

Social Position and Suicide : A Historical

View

Chapter
-4

Major reasons for Suicide In India

6-8

4.
1

Cost of Cultivation, Indebtedness and

Uncertainties

4.
2

Advent Of technology Obsolete people

Chapter
-2

Chapter
-5

4.
3

Lack of Government Initiative

4.
4

Exploitation by Landlords

4.
5

Disputes Over land and marital affairs

Conclusions

Bibliography

VII

Statement of the Problem

To analyse the reasons for farmers suicide in India and to check whether they are in
consonance with the principles stated by Durkheim in his book Suicide (1897).

(I)
Review of Literature

1) Mohanty, B.B in his research paper Social Roots of Farmers in Maharashtra(2005)

talks about application of Durkheims principles of Suicide in districts of Amravati
and Yavatmal in Maharashtra .
This helped me in understanding the nature of suicide in India. This report clearly
brings out that Durkheims principles still hold true in a society like India when it
comes to farmers. It also suggested that suicide in India occurs in mixed types
instead of being of one of the four pure forms as stated by Durkheim.

2) United Nations report on International Farmers Suicide Crisis (2012)

This paper helped me to compare Indian farmers with farmers internationally. The
United Nations in this project has proved that the general reasons of Farmers Suicide
in India also hold internationally.
3) C. Manav (2006) in his research paper Debt drives Indian farmers to suicide has
analysed how poor farmers in search for collateral look for informal sources of capital
and end of paying high interest along with the principal amount and the farmers who
fail to pay end up in a vicious cycles of forced labour.

4) The Hindu dated 18.05.2013 article Farmers suicide rates soar above the rest
This article provides suicide rates as observed in census of 2011 which are as high as
47% in some states. This article also talks about the disparities in the suicide rates of
farmers in various states of India with Maharashtra having the highest rates.

(II)
Objectives
1)
2)
3)
4)
5)

To study the prevailing problem of farmer suicide in India.

To find out the reasons for farmer suicide in India
To analyse the farmer suicide in India with relation to Durkheims theory
To understand the relationship between social position and suicide
To verify the applicability of Durkheims theory in society of a developing
country.

(III)
Hypothesis
1) Roots of suicide lie in social conditions.

(IV)
Collection Of Data

The study has been based on secondary data collected from various sources which include
excerpts from books and articles from the internet.

(V)
Data Analysis and Interpretation

The secondary data has been analysed for theoretical formulations and to draw out inferences.

(VI)
Bibliography

Mohanty, B.B, (2005) Social Roots of Farmers in Maharashtra

United Nations report , (2012) International Farmers Suicide Crisis
C. Manav , (2006) Debt drives Indian farmers to suicide
The Hindu E-newspaper
Radhakrishnan, P. (2004). Suicides in India some sociological reflections.

(VII)