Last year, Centre had informed the Supreme Court that despite a multi-pronged approach to improve income and social security of farmers, over 12,000 suicides were reported in the agricultural sector every year since 2013
Over the last 48 hours, at least 24 debt ridden farmers have committed suicide. The Marathwada region in Maharashtra has alone witnessed 452 instances of suicide in the first half of 2018
Despite announcements of loan waivers by several state governments and Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s promise to double farmers’ income by 2022, there is no let-up in the acute agrarian distress in the country. Over the last 48 hours, as many as 24 debt-ridden farmers have committed suicide across the country, ABP News reported on Monday.
The report claimed that indebted farmers took the extreme step after their loans were not waived off following crop failure. The report maintained that farmers in distress were tired of knocking on doors of insurance agents, private money lenders and government officials.
This comes nearly two weeks after PM Modi spoke in glowing terms of his government’s schemes and programmes in a video interaction with farmers from nine state.
Another report in the Asian Age says that Marathwada region in Maharashtra alone has witnessed 452 instances of suicide by farmers in the first half of 2018, attributing the failure to repay loans as the single biggest reason behind most suicides.
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