Maharashtra, India: A state of massive economic, political and cultural growth. Its 110 million inhabitants reap the benefits of a higher living standard that other parts of the country cannot offer. Maharashtra is one of the wealthiest Indian states and its business and commercial opportunities are drawing thousands of migrants. Despite all this, Maharashtra holds the record for the state with the most amount of farmer suicides.
In recent years, suicide rates in India have grown to epic proportions, particularly the number of farmer suicides. The combined economic turbulence and agricultural uncertainty have fostered a dismal climate for farmers, particularly those who grow cotton. In the last two decades, over 290,000 Indian farmers have killed themselves. According to the Center for Human Rights and Global Justice, in 2009, an Indian farmer took his life every 30 minutes.
India has the most remarkable growth of any nation in the world. We have seen immense industrialization and urbanization consume the country. In the midst of the expansion of cities and industry, farmers and rural dwellers are left to grapple with their own poor economic predicaments.
For some farmers, their debt has spiraled out of control as they struggle to pay off loans for GMO seeds that are promised to reap more crops. Some seeds cost twice as much as regular seeds, but due to droughts and other environmental complications, the yield is not as plentiful as promised. Surmounting debt and economic policies that hinder development for farmers augment to the pre-existing stress and tension that plague these farmers every day of their lives.
Their methods of suicide are simply barbaric. They range from consuming pesticides to hanging in the trees that once promised them bounty. However, after these farmers transcend the pain and suffering of this life, their widows and children are left with an even larger accumulation of debt. Many of these women cannot obtain extra jobs to support their families because they must have a man to help them get a job. Consequently, the combined stress and patriarchal cruelty have caused a slew of widow suicides in recent years.
The paradox between the developing cities and the withering countryside has sparked an outcry among landowners and agriculturalists. The government’s silence and apathetic policies toward farmers and their debt have engendered a system in which suicide is the norm. Farmers in Maharashtra are beginning to address their suicide letters to the president and prime minister, hoping that their deaths may inspire change.
In March, Prime Minister Narendra Modi proposed a bill that would make it easier for businesses to buy land, as part of his vision for further industrialization. Modi claimed that the bill would benefit farmers, but the bill includes an exemption requiring consent of 80 percent of the landowners for land projects. In rebuttal to the anti-farmer legislation, protesters have mobilized and marched to the president’s residence. Some farmers have even defecated on copies of the bill.
It’s the same old story. Politicians claim they are helping the people and disguising their true intentions with concerned rhetoric. The state must provide relief to the families of suicide victims and provide better access to cheaper loans through state banks, instead of high-cost loans through private moneylenders. The government cannot afford to wait another thirty minutes.