K'taka: Drought, indebtedness drive farmers to suicide

Karnataka's average rainfall this year has just been 191 mm this year instead of the normal 336 mm. A majority of farmers, who are worst-hit by this deficiency, have been running helter-skelter to make ends meet, while others have resorted to taking their own lives. Vicky Nanjappa reports.

According to the statistics available with the Karnataka government, 16 farmers across the state have ended their lives owing to losses caused by the drought. These farmers took their own lives because of various reasons, ranging from crop failure, poor economic conditions to debts.

It is tragic, because some of these farmers who killed themselves were unable to pay back loans as little as Rs 10,000. The suicides have been the highest in northern Karnataka. Take the case of Balanayak, a 65-year-old man from Haveri disstrict.

Balanayak killed himself because he could not clear a loan he had taken in 1985. There have been other cases in the same district: two more farmers committed suicide because they could not repay their loans. It has been two years in a row that rains have failed in this area.

There are several such cases in northern Karnataka and the government led by Chief Minister Jagadish Shettar, who hails from this area, has his work cut out for him. Despite him having announced compensations, there are many farmers who could not receive them, simply because they did not have land records in their names.
 
If loans are obtained from nationalised banks, then the government can direct them to waive them off. However, a majority of the farmers have already obtained crop loans, while other have pledged their land to money-lenders.

Some farmers have complained that they are not avoiding repayment deliberately. "Crops are our only source of income. We just can't give what little we earn to the banks. The banks have been relentless, and are using recovery tactics," rues a farmer.

The government has introduced various plans such as subsidies to reduce this burden. However, the fact remains that old loans continue to remain unpaid, and in a drought-like situation, newer ones are added.

Studies have shown that most of the suicides in the rural belts are because of agriculture-related problems.

A study conducted by the department of agricultural economics, Bijapur, states that it was noticed that about 73 per cent of farmers have marital problems, which could be an external manifestation of deeper economic crisis.

Among the 10 most important causes of suicides, debt burden was a major one for taking this extreme step. However, this is not the primary cause; it is a manifestation of secondary reasons such as crop failure and non-remunerative prices for their produce etc.

The debt trap keeps working in a vicious way and is interwoven with the loss of farm activities, failure of borewells and decline in repaying capacity etc. Since heavy indebtedness has been identified as the primary cause for farmers' suicides, it has to be tackled effectively through an appropriate farm credit policy.

From a sociological perspective, there is a need for non-political, non-profit, non-governmental voluntary associations to get involved. These organisations should go to the farmers in distress, create awareness about their self dignity, rights, modus operandi of the profit-oriented vested interests and instill a sense of confidence.

While the Karnataka government has come under criticism for not handling this situation well, the opposition Congress says this is the worst drought in the past four decades. A report prepared by them suggests that the rain deficit this year has been more than 43 per cent, as a result of which 90 per cent of the crops have been damaged.

The opposition says that tanks have dried up, and the levels in the reservoirs have gone down dramatically. There are 123 taluks which have been declared drought-hit by the government.

The government has announced Rs 3,500 crore for waiving off farmer loans. It feels that this would provide relief to 16 lakh farmers in the state. The government says farmers who have obtained loans between August 2011 and June 2012 from cooperative institutions would be eligible for this waiver.

The opposition, however, wants to know what those farmers who have taken loans from nationalised banks should do.

"Announcing a loan waiver is not sufficient, as it would benefit only a few. The government does not appear to be addressing the concerns of those who have not obtained loans, but are facing a problem because of the drought. There is an overall loss of Rs 10,000 crore and, in this situation, sorting out the loan problem alone is not the solution," an opposition member points out.