Punjab government’s data states that 3,330 farmers have taken their lives due to farm debt since 2000 till date, of which 698 committed suicide in the past four years, most of them in the Malwa region.
Over the past few years, ‘farm debt’ has been one of the main reasons behind farmers and farm labourers committing suicide in Punjab. Farmer groups, state universities’ and government data have indicated that 97% of farmer suicides are taking place in the Malwa region only.
The Indian Express explains why this seems to be the case and how exorbitant lease land rentals is one of the factors behind the high rate of farmer suicide in Malwa:
* Where have the highest number of farmer suicides been reported from?
According to a joint report by Punjabi University, Patiala, Punjab Agriculture University (PAU), Ludhiana and Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar, farmer suicides due to debt drastically increased in the late 1990s. The maximum such suicides are taking place in the Malwa region (97.45 per cent), which falls south of the Sutlej, and has 14 of the state’s 22 districts.
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