Lok Sabha Question No. 935 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2022-02-08
Subject: Farmers Suicide
Ministry: AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE
Asked by: Mahesh Sahoo

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE

## DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE

## LOK SABHA

## UNSTARREDQUESTION NO. 935

TO BE ANSWERED ON THE 8 TH  FERUARY, 2022

## FARMERS SUICIDE

935.    SHRI MAHESH SAHOO:

Will the Minister of AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE कृ ष एवं कसान कयाण मंी be pleased to state:

(a) whether the Government has conducted any comprehensive study to figure out causes of farmers suicide across the country;

(b) if so, the details thereof and if not, any future proposal so far;

(c):  whether  the  Government  has  any  data  of  farmers  death  by  suicide  and  if  so,  the details thereof for the last five years, State-wise; and

(d) the details of corrective steps taken by the Government in this regard?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE

कृ ष एवं कसान कयाण मंी (SHRI NARENDRA SINGH TOMAR)

( a & b): Government had undertaken a study 'Farmers Suicide in India: Causes and Policy Prescription' as an all India coordinated study in the work plan 2016-17 through the Institute of Social and Economic Change (ISEC), Bengaluru. The study covered 13 states of the country which included Karnataka, Maharashtra, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Punjab, Haryana, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal.

The  study  concluded  that  frequent  crop  failure  due  to  vagaries  of  monsoon, absence  of  assured  water  resources  and  attack  of  pest  and  diseases  are  the  most important causes of farmers' distress. The study had made, inter-alia, following suggestions to address the above problems:

- i) Bringing individual farmers under the ambit of crop insurance;
2. ii) Judicious use of available water is required;
3. iii) Government intervention through MSP  covering cost of production plus reasonable profit margin;
4. iv) Risk hedging through crop and enterprise diversification should be encouraged to reduce farmers' distress aiming at sustainable income; and
- v) Regulate informal credit market.

(c): The  National  Crime  Records  Bureau  (NCRB)  under  the  Ministry  of  Home  Affairs compiles  and  disseminates  information  on  suicides  in  its  publication  titled  'Accidental Deaths and Suicides in India' (ADSI). NCRB has published reports upto 2020 which are available on its website. The State-wise details of suicide committed by farmers, as per NCRB Report for the last five years, are at Annexure .

(d): The  corrective  steps  taken  by  the  Government  on  the  suggestions  given  in  the above said study are as under:

- i) With  a  view  to  provide  better  insurance  coverage  to  crops  for  risk  mitigation, Government  has  introduced  flagship  yield  based  Pradhan  Mantri  Fasal  Bima Yojana (PMFBY) alongwith weather index based Restructured Weather Based Crop Insurance Scheme (RWBCIS) from Kharif 2016.
2. ii) Ministry  of  Jal  Shakti  has  been  organising  competitions  on  various  aspects of water including water conservation, sustainable development of water resources and  for  water  use  efficiency  for  the  purpose  of  bringing  awareness  about significance of water in the people of the country.
3. iii) The Union Budget for 2018-19 had announced the pre-determined principle to keep MSP at levels of one and half times of the cost of production. Accordingly, Government has increased the MSPs for all mandated Kharif, Rabi and other commercial crops with a return of at least 50 per cent over all India weighted average cost of production from the agricultural  year  2018-19. In  line  with  the same  principle,  Government  has  announced  the  increase  in  MSP  for  all mandated  Kharif  crops  of  the  year  2021-22  on 9 th June,  2021 and  for  all mandated Rabi crops of the year 2021-22 on 8 th September, 2021.
4. iv) PMFBY  scheme  aims  at  supporting  the  sustainable  production  in  agriculture sector by way of providing financial support to farmers suffering crop loss/damage  arising  out  of  unforeseen  natural  calamities,  adverse  weather incidence  and  to  help  in  stabilize  the  income  of  farmers  to  ensure  their continuance in farming.   Comprehensive risk insurance to farmers is provided against  non-preventable  natural  calamities  such  as  drought,  dry-spells,  flood, hailstorm, inundation etc. under the scheme for entire crop cycle including presowing to post-harvest losses.

The scheme  is being implemented on actuarial/bidded premium  rate basis.  However, farmers have to pay a minimum uniform fixed premium rate at maximum  2%  for  Kharif,  1.5%  for  Rabi  food  and  oilseed  crops  and  5%  for annual commercial/horticultural crops, with balance of actuarial/bidded premium being  shared  by  the  Central  and  State  Government  on  50:50  basis except  in North Eastern States, where it is 90:10 with effect from Kharif 2020 season.      The  scheme  is  voluntary  for  the  States  since  inception  and  for  all farmers w.e.f. Kharif 2020.

Since  inception  of the  scheme in 2016-17 till 2020-21, against premium of Rs. 21,531 crore paid by farmers, claims of Rs. 1,04,196  crore have been paid to 901 lakh farmer applications.

- v) The  Government has extended  the  facility  of  Kisan  Credit  Card  (KCC)  to  the farmers practicing animal husbandry and fisheries related activities. All processing  fee,  inspection,  leger  folio  charges  and  all  other  services  charges have been waived off for fresh renewal of KCC. Collateral fee loan limit for short term agri-credit has been raised from Rs. 1.00 lakh to Rs. 1.60 lakh. KCC will be issued within 14 days from the receipt of completed application.

State-wise details of Farmers' suicide for the year 2016 and 2019

| Sl. No.           | State/UT          |   2016 |   2017 | 2018   |   2019 |
|-------------------|-------------------|--------|--------|--------|--------|
| 1                 | ANDHRA PRADESH    |    239 |    375 | 365    |    628 |
| 2                 | ARUNACHAL PRADESH |      6 |      0 | 0      |      0 |
| 3                 | ASSAM             |      6 |      3 | 5      |     26 |
| 4                 | BIHAR             |      0 |      0 | 0      |      0 |
| 5                 | CHHATTISGARH      |    585 |    285 | 182    |    233 |
| 6                 | GOA               |      0 |      0 | 0      |      0 |
| 7                 | GUJARAT           |     30 |      4 | 21     |      3 |
| 8                 | HARYANA           |      0 |      0 | 0      |      0 |
| 9                 | HIMACHAL PRADESH  |      0 |      4 | 5      |     12 |
| 10                | JAMMU & KASHMIR   |      0 |      0 | 5      |      0 |
| 11                | JHARKHAND         |      3 |      0 | 0      |      0 |
| 12                | KARNATAKA         |   1212 |   1157 | 1365   |   1331 |
| 13                | KERALA            |     23 |     42 | 25     |     22 |
| 14                | MADHYA PRADESH    |    599 |    429 | 303    |    142 |
| 15                | MAHARASHTRA       |   2550 |   2426 | 2239   |   2680 |
| 16                | MANIPUR           |      1 |      0 | 2      |      0 |
| 17                | MEGHALAYA         |      2 |      0 | 0      |      0 |
| 18                | MIZORAM           |      0 |      0 | 17     |     22 |
| 19                | NAGALAND          |      0 |      0 | 0      |      0 |
| 20                | ODISHA            |     20 |      0 | 0      |      0 |
| 21                | PUNJAB            |    232 |    243 | 229    |    239 |
| 22                | RAJASTHAN         |      4 |      3 | 2      |      2 |
| 23                | SIKKIM            |     12 |      7 | 1      |      0 |
| 24                | TAMIL NADU        |     36 |     19 | 6      |      6 |
| 25                | TELANGANA         |    632 |    846 | 900    |    491 |
| 26                | TRIPURA           |      4 |      0 | 0      |      0 |
| 27                | UTTAR PRADESH     |     69 |    110 | 80     |    108 |
| 28                | UTTARAKHAND       |      0 |      0 | 0      |      0 |
| 29                | WEST BENGAL       |      0 |      0 | 0      |      0 |
| 30                | A & N ISLANDS     |      3 |      2 | 4      |      5 |
| 31                | CHANDIGARH        |      0 |      0 |        |      0 |
| 32                | D & N HAVELI      |      0 |      0 | 7      |      7 |
| 33                | DAMAN & DIU       |      0 |      0 | 0      |      0 |
| 34                | DELHI (UT)        |      0 |      0 | 0      |      0 |
| 35                | LAKSHADWEEP       |      0 |      0 | 0      |      0 |
| 36                | PUDUCHERRY        |      2 |      0 | 0      |      0 |
| TOTAL (ALL INDIA) |                   |   6270 |   5955 | 5763   |   5957 |

Source :  Report on 'Accidental Deaths & Suicides in India' for relevant years, National Crime Records Bureau.

## State-wise details of Farmers' suicide for the year 2020

|   Sl. No. 1 | State/UT ANDHRA PRADESH      |   2020 564 |
|-------------|------------------------------|------------|
|           2 | ARUNACHAL PRADESH            |          1 |
|           3 | ASSAM                        |         12 |
|           4 | BIHAR                        |          0 |
|           5 | CHHATTISGARH                 |        227 |
|           6 | GOA                          |          0 |
|           7 | GUJARAT                      |          5 |
|           8 | HARYANA                      |          0 |
|           9 | HIMACHAL PRADESH             |          6 |
|          10 | JHARKHAND                    |          0 |
|          11 | KARNATAKA                    |       1072 |
|          12 | KERALA                       |         57 |
|          13 | MADHYA PRADESH               |        235 |
|          14 | MAHARASHTRA                  |       2567 |
|          15 | MANIPUR                      |          1 |
|          16 | MEGHALAYA                    |          4 |
|          17 | MIZORAM                      |          4 |
|          18 | NAGALAND                     |          0 |
|          19 | ODISHA                       |          0 |
|          20 | PUNJAB                       |        174 |
|          21 | RAJASTHAN                    |          0 |
|          22 | SIKKIM                       |          6 |
|          23 | TAMIL NADU                   |         79 |
|          24 | TELANGANA#                   |        466 |
|          25 | TRIPURA                      |          0 |
|          26 | UTTAR PRADESH                |         87 |
|          27 | UTTARAKHAND                  |          0 |
|          28 | WEST BENGAL                  |          0 |
|          29 | A & N ISLANDS                |          6 |
|          30 | CHANDIGARH                   |          0 |
|          31 | D & N HAVELI and DAMAN & DIU |          6 |
|          32 | DELHI (UT)                   |          0 |

| 33   | JAMMU & KASHMIR   |    0 |
|------|-------------------|------|
| 34   | LADAKH            |    0 |
| 35   | LAKSHADWEEP       |    0 |
| 36   | PUDUCHERRY        |    0 |
|      | TOTAL (ALL INDIA) | 5579 |

Source :  Report on 'Accidental Deaths & Suicides in India' for relevant years, National Crime Records Bureau.

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