Farmer suicides in India Group discussion topic for Airforce Phase 2 GD

Farmer suicides in India 

"If agriculture fails , everything else will fail"-  MS swaminathan

 India is a country where 70% of its population directly or indirectly depends on the agriculture for livelihood but the life of the farmers is full of uncertainty and and often ends up in suicides.

Since 2013  almost 12000 suicide were recorded in the agriculture sector.

Farmer suicides in India accounts to almost 11% of all suicides in the country , among them the 7 States Viz Maharashtra ,Andhra Pradesh, telangana ,Tamilnadu, Chhattisgarh ,MP and Karnataka calculates 87% of the total farmer suicides.

Maharashtra being the most affected state. Punjab the most benefited state from green revolution also has a unpleasant data.

 There are many reasons which are responsible for farmer suicides.

1.  Increase in input cost which increases burden on farmers and they need to take loans . as per NCRB National crime record bureau 2474 out of 3000 farmer suicides had unpaid  loans in local banks and with moneylenders.

2. Digital divide and literacy gap which make them vulnerable and unaware about government policies.

Only 6% of farmers benefiting from the minimum support price MSP proves that lake of knowledge of government scheme among farmers.

 3. Uncertainty of monsoon causes loss to the farmers 

Moreover the seven States which count most of farmer distress are the water deficit regions and regions having inter state water disputes.

 

Government schemes  for the farmers are :

PM Kisan scheme 

E- National agriculture market E-NAM

National mission for sustainable agriculture NMSA

PM Kisan pension Yojana 

PM fasal Bima Yojana

Solutions

1. The importance of farmers which are the hands that feed the nation need to be recognised.

2. Inclusion of advance technologies in agriculture sector is essential for "low cost - high productivity"

3. Regulation and implementation of one nation one MSP policy would help to arrest farmer distress.