No death wish, this

Between Vidarbha and Chhattisgarh, everyday farmers are killing themselves. Will someone please stand up for them?

Shubhranshu Choudhary, Delhi, Hardnews 

A city dweller like me has little understanding of farming and farmers. But dreams for a region's future must relate to the livelihoods of 80 per cent of the people. That is why the first session of the annual 'Dream CG Meet' (CG means Chhattisgarh), an internet group, is about agriculture. This year we thought of inviting farmers from the adjoining Vidarbha region to learn from their experiences and apply the same to Chhattisgarh. Thousands of farmers are known to be committing suicides and we wanted to be forewarned.
We contacted Kishor Tiwari of the Vidarbha Jan Andolan Samiti and farmer leader Vijay Jawandiya. They have been monitoring farmer suicides and mailing journalists. They have made significant contribution in drawing world attention to Vidarbha. I got in touch with Prof P Radhakrishnan of the Madras Institute of Development Studies. He has a substantial body of work on farmer suicides. He introduced me to Prof K Nagraj. He said, "It is true that Maharashtra has the biggest problem and you should invite the people of Vidarbha. But it is more important to initiate a study on Chhattisgarh. Large number of farmers are committing suicide there."
It was the last week of December, 2008. I was sceptical about what he said. I recalled a study by one of my friends. From the year of formation of Chhattisgarh, till 2006, only 5 or 6 farmers have committed suicide - which meant one suicide per year.
However, a recent story citing the annual National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB 2006), report claimed that Maharashtra continues to lead in farmer suicides statistics, followed by the combined figure for Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh. I was shocked. The report elaborated that in 2006 (figures for 2007 will be available next year) a total of 17,060 farmer suicides were reported, of which the maximum (4,453) were from Maharashtra. The second 'rank' was held by MP and Chhattisgarh (2,858). Andhra and Karnataka were next with 2,607 and 1,720 suicides.
I was surprised and confused. According to my information, the number of farmers committing suicide in Chhattisgarh was small (1 per year) in the last 6-7 years. This meant that the MP figures ought to have been significantly large. Chhattisgarh was created seven years back. Why are its figures still clubbed with those of MP?
I found an article by Sushmita Malwiya on the website. She quoted the combined figures of MP and Chhattisgarh. In the same report, the agriculture officer of Chhattisgarh says: "We have no record of farmer suicides. The figures are baseless."
I wondered why the prime minister, in his Rs 17,000 crore package for the farmers who committed suicide, did not declare something for MP farmers, if the figures of suicides here was higher than that of Andhra, Karnataka and Kerala. I called up journalists in MP. They said that they don't recall suicide reports. And when the government disputed the figures, the issue went into cold storage.
I called up P Sainath of The Hindu. He said, "I have been writing about farmer suicides from 2000. For a long time, I was ridiculed. In 2004, after Chandrababu Naidu lost, people started taking me seriously in Andhra. Even then the people of Vidarbha would say that this was happening only in Andhra and not in Vidarbha. But the official figures show that from the 1990s decade, twice as many farmers have been committing suicide in Vidarbha as compared to Andhra."
Meanwhile, Prof. Nagaraj explained: "The figures of MP and Chhattisgarh are not clubbed. My own study began in 1997 when the state had not been created. And so, for my personal convenience, I clubbed the figures. The journalists just quoted me; they did not explore the source of my figures. You are wrong in thinking that all suicides are happening in MP. In the last few years, more farmers have committed suicide in Chhattisgarh. According to 2006 figures, the MP death count is 1,375, and in Chhattisgarh it is 1483."
He said, "The figures shocked me initially. I used to think that as farmers migrate from Chhattisgarh like from UP and Bihar, the number of farmers committing suicide would be small. But if you are claiming that the figures are fudged, then the figures for all the states are fudged. The source for all the figures is common. The real figures of farmers' suicides are likely to be higher in reality."
It's late February, Kishor Tiwari informs: four farmers are committing suicide every day in Vidarbha: 146 in just this year. Even as Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar, among other tycoons and film stars, celebrate billions on IPL auctions.
Statistics apart, this is election year in both the states. Will someone please speak up?

The writer is a journalist, formerly with the BBC. MY PAGE is open to readers to express their personal opinion and experiences on life and letters, politics and culture, fears and aspirations, problems and solutions. The writer whose article is published will get a year's subscription of Hardnews as a gift. The other articles can be published in the website www.harndewsmedia.com. The editor's discretion will be final.