the chattisgarh files...

Whichever way we calculate the farmer suicides data from the national crime records bureau (NCRB), Chhattisgarh retains a place in the top five states. It fits in the criteria to reserve its hegemony among the other competing states at the fourth position considering the total number of farmers committing suicide; number three considering the farmers suicide rate (FSR) per one lakh farmers; number three again considering the rate of farmers' suicide per one lakh male farmers; and number one considering farmers' suicide rate per one lakh population. Chhattisgarh tops this list every year since its inception in 2000. When Vidarbha saw 1,065 farmer suicides in 2006, Chhattisgarh saw 1,483 the same year. According to NCRB, the suicide rate among Chhattisgarh's farmers in 2006 was 6.49 per one lakh farmers, followed by Maharashtra with 4.28, Kerala with 3.37, Andhra Pradesh 3.24 and Karnataka with 2.57. While farmer suicides in other states have drawn much media and government attention, those in Chhattisgarh have gone virtually unnoticed. Yet, the suicide rate among farmers is the highest in Chhattisgarh. The media in Chhattisgarh claims farmer suicides does not happen here. Their rather simplistic logic is that farmers do not grow cash crop in the state and paddy does not require much investment, hence the story is not true. The chief minister has vehemently proclaimed, "Not a single farmer has committed suicide ever due to debts. It is not the issue but the people writing about it who need to be investigated." So what is the real story? Police records show the details of farmers who commit suicide due to debt. Moreover, some more digging up of the issue reveals that the problem is very complex. The big farmers in Chhattisgarh have almost stopped tilling the farms on their own and lease out their lands to small farmers and the landless. Hence, many small farmers end up cultivating bigger farms than they themselves own. The input cost in paddy cultivation has been steadily growing and the labour cost has gone up drastically with NREGAcoming in force. After giving rent to the landowner, the cultivator is left with abysmally low profit. So the farmer, who cultivates, thus is compelled by circumstances to take loan which is many times borrowed from a local moneylender who charges a higher rate of interest. The landless cultivating a farm of a big landowner does not get any loan from the co-operatives because they does not have papers to be submitted as against security. Consequently, after being indebted to the moneylenders from head to toes, many of such farmers and the landless commit suicide due to continuous distress. Unfortunately, as they farm on leased land, their suicide is not lodged as farmers' suicide in police records, otherwise, the actual number of farmers killing themselves would be even higher. The districts with the highest number of farmers' suicide are the ones that have the maximum utilisation of fertilisers. The rate of suicides in the tribal districts of north and south Chhattisgarh is less than half of that of the central part of the state. So, is it the income from forests in the north and south that is saving tribal farmers in these areas? The farmers opined that if the labour cost is calculated at the rate of minimum wages, then the minimum support price for paddy should be at least the double, if not more. A moneyed farmer earns profit today only because he pays less than the minimum wage to the labour. Nevertheless, getting labour at cheaper rates is becoming much difficult, especially closer to the urban settlements. Many farmers are keen to sell off their land and resort to self-farming only as a last option available with them. The police records have many cases of farmers' suicides with reasons of death stated as, economic pressure, mental illness, drinking, fight, tension and "unknown". Farm scientist Sanket Thakur explains, "The income from farming is reducing every year and the farmer goes into debt ordinarily. Sometimes it is the general sense of hopelessness which translates into suicides. The immediate reason of a suicide might be a fight with the wife, but in many of these cases farming distress provides an active background." The saga is not just to be concluded here. This subject needs thorough investigation for unravelling the puzzle of loss of hard pressed human lives. Bob Dylan once sang, "How many deaths does it take to be known that too many people have died?" An apt question for Chhattisgarh.