Shaina NC says depression and alcohol reason for farmer suicides, not just loans

New Delhi, April 13: Speaking on farmer suicides in the state of Maharashtra, Shaina NC on Thursday said that it is depression and alcohol that are the reason for their suicides and not just loans. While the Congress party condemned Shaina’s comments on the suicides of Maharashtra farmers terming them as insensitive, she clarified that she was asked what else could be the reason for their suicides.

This has come days after a 30-year-old debt-ridden farmer committed suicide in western Maharashtra district. As per PTI report, Vinod Haribhau Pote, a resident of Dhotri village under Jamkhed tehsil, hanged himself from a tree in his farm, Navnath Naik, sub-inspector at local police station said. As per the reports, Pote had taken loans from private moneylenders and was finding it difficult to repay them. No suicide was found from the spot.

As per a report by the United Nations, there was a farmer suicide every 32 minutes between 1997 and 2005 in India. In the year 2014, the National Crimes Records Bureau of India reported over 5,650 farmer suicides. Out of 5,650, 5,178 were males and 472 were females. Maharashtra has byfar been the epicentre of farmer suicides with over 10,000 suicides recorded between the year 2011 to 2013.

Over 3,000 farmer suicides over not being able to pay loans were collectively recorded from Maharashtra, Telangana, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Kerala. Out of a total of one lakh suicides that were reported in year 2013, 8.7 per cent (approximately 11,772) were those of farmers. The highest number of farmer suicides were recorded in 2004 when 18,241 farmers committed suicide.