Latest government data shows that 80 per cent of farmers killed themselves in 2015 because of bankruptcy or debts after taking hefty amount of loans from banks and registered microfinance institutions. Despite us thinking the money-lenders a big reason for the suicides, moneylenders are more flexible than the microfinance sector. Banks put pressure by instigating the self-help groups that their share would be cut if one person does not pay loans in time. Thus by creating social pressure they mend their ways to receive the money they had lent.
This is the first time that the government has come up with figures alleging the banks instead of the local money lenders for the grievous state of affair.
According to National Crime Records Bureau’s latest farmer-suicides data, of the over 3,000 farmers who committed suicides across the country in 2015 due to debt and bankruptcy, 2,474 had taken loans from banks or microfinance institutions.
According to a Indian Express report- only 10 per cent farmers had committed suicide due to debts caused by loans taken from both banks and moneylenders — the share of loans from moneylenders under this section was 9.8 per cent.
The data further elaborated that Maharashtra (3,030), Telangana (1,358), Karnataka (1,197), Chhattisgarh (854) and Madhya Pradesh (516) led the table. Karnataka saw a more than three-fold rise in farmer suicides in 2015, as compared to 2014 when around 300 farmers ended their lives.
According to the NCRB data, “bankruptcy and indebtedness” witnessed the steepest rise in 2015 with thrice the increment in number (3,097) as compared to 2014 (1,163). As a result farmer suicides have seen a sharp spike of over 61 per cent. While 969 suicides were recorded due to crop-failure and other farm-related issues in 2014, 2015 saw 1,562 suicides in this category.
