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International Journal of Scientific Research in Science, Engineering and Technology
Print ISSN: 2395-1990 | Online ISSN : 2394-4099 (www.ijsrset.com)
doi : https://doi.org/10.32628/IJSRSET218145
248
Trends and Causes of Farmers Suicide in Maharashtra State, India
Prof. Vikas V. Ade
Assistant Professor, Political Science, C. J. Patel Arts, Comm. & Science College, Tirora, Dist. Gondia,
Maharashtra, India
Article Info
Volume 8 Issue 1
Page Number: 248-261
Publication Issue :
January-February-2021
Article History
Accepted : 20 Feb 2021
Published : 28 Feb 2021
ABSTRACT
The present study accepted out with an investigative strategy of social research
on farmer’s suicide trend in Maharashtra state, Over 15,000 farmers have
committed suicide in Maharashtra between 2013 and 2018. In Vidarbha and
Marathwada from January 2001 to July 2018, a total of 29602farmers from 18
districts of died by suicide. About 83.74% of the state's total farmer
suicides were in the two regions of Vidarbha and Marathwada. The highest
farmer suicide in Amravati division is 57.8%, than Nagpur division 15.6%,
Aurangabad division 13.6%, Nasik division 8.3%, Pune division 4.5% and
lowest farmer suicide 0.8% in Konkan division. A farming disaster has rainfall a
spate of suicides in Maharashtra. The suicide mortality rate for farmers in the
state has increased from 2001 to 2018. The rain dependent cotton growing
farmers of Maharashtra are faced with declining profitability because of
dumping in the global market by the US, low import tariffs, failure of the
Monopoly Cotton Procurement Scheme and withdrawal of the state are
resulting in declining public investment in agriculture, poor government
agriculture extension services and the diminishing role of formal credit
institutions. The farmer is faced with yield, price, credit, income and weather
uncertainties. The way out is to merge bold public policy initiatives with civil
society engagement.
Keyword : - Maharashtra State, Geo-Political View, Farmers' Suicide.
I. INTRODUCTION
Geographic and demographic variations in suicide
rates have continued to be noted in Australian
farmers (32, 37, 38). Taking person and place into
account, and noting the importance of community
and environmental contexts on well-being, have been
cited as critical to any future rural suicide prevention
intervention (5, 7, 13). Farmers do not just belong to
an occupational group, but are part of families, small
and often tight-knit rural communities, and operate
within a unique geographical, psychological,
environmental and social context within Australia.
The farmers’ work environment has been described as
characterised by “high stress”. with “relentless
demands”. Social factors such as relationship
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breakdown, isolation and loneliness, as well
adherence to sociocultural norms of masculinity,
stoicism and self-reliance have been implicated in
Australian farmer suicide (6, 8, 9, 31). Farmers
themselves perceive risk for suicide to result from a
highly interactive combination of individual,
environmental and social factors Risk of suicide in
farmers has ‘been recognised to be higher than in
other occupations in Australia and some countries
across the world 12, 14, 30, 29). Whilst well
documented, the phenomena of rural suicide remains
poorly understood. Geographic and demographic
variances in Australian farmer suicide cases suggest
we need to look more carefully at the complex
interaction of factors at play if targeted prevention
strategies are to be developed and delivered to those
most at risk (28, 15, 20, 27). Farmers impression a
repeated sense of impossibility due to the loss of crops,
dwindling income levels, shrinking lands and even
the loss of a way of life (16, 18, 19, 21). Another factor
that increases suicides is the probable for social
segregation developing from the loss of communities
as well as geographical remoteness. Rising trend of
nuclear families leading to non-sharing of problems
or tensions causes mental stress. The lack of access to
mental health services in rural areas and the stigma
attached to treatment is also a contributing factor.
II. OBJECTIVES
The objectives of the study are as follows:
➢ To look into the trends and patterns of the recent
suicide scenario in Maharashtra.
➢ To study the Geo-political situation of
Maharashtra State.
➢ To identify and examine other socio-economic
factors leading to suicidal death by the deceased
farmers.
III. METHODS
Focus groups were conducted in three diverse sites
across two states in Maharashtra with trend and
pattern 2001 to 2018, separately to gain perceptions
about suicide risk and protective factors and attitudes
towards suicide and help seeking. All data collected
on census of India, Divisional Commission rate Office,
Aurangabad and Nagpur etc.
IV. RESULT AND ANALYSIS
Brief History of Maharashtra:-
During the 18th century almost all of western and
central India, as well as large segments of the north
and east, was brought under the suzerainty of
the Maratha confederacy, an alliance formed after
Shivaji’s kingdom had collapsed. Europeans, however,
had been present along the coast since the early 16th
century. Britain gained control of Bombay Island in
1661, and from the early 19th century onward the
Marathas gradually succumbed to British expansion
on the mainland. The British proceeded to establish
an administrative province known as the Bombay
Presidency. After India gained its independence in
1947, the province became Bombay state (1950). A
number of former princely states (notably Baroda
[now Vadodara]) subsequently were merged into the
new state. On November 1, 1956, in a major linguistic
and political reorganization of the states of peninsular
India, Bombay state received large parts of Madhya
Pradesh, as well as the northwestern portion of the
dismembered Hyderabad state (which had been
formed after Indian independence from the
former Hyderabad princely state). The outcome of
that reorganization, however, was still a linguistically
divided state, in which most of the Gujarati-speaking
peoples lived in the north and most of the Marathi-
speaking peoples lived in the south. Demands by the
two language groups that the state be divided into
two parts resulted, on May 1, 1960, in the creation
of Gujarat in the north and the newly renamed
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Maharashtra in the south. Bombay, remaining part of
Maharashtra, became the new state’s capital.
Geographical Profile:-
The word Maharashtra, the land of the Marathi
speaking people, appears to be derived from
Maharashtri, an old form of Prakrit. Some believe that
the word indicates that it was the land of the Mahars
and the Rattas, while others consider it to be a
corruption of the term 'Maha Kantara' (the Great
Forest), a synonym for 'Dandakaranya' (Fig. 1).
The Land:-
Located in the north centre of Peninsular India, with
a command of the Arabian Sea through its port of
Mumbai, Maharashtra has a remarkable physical
homogeneity, enforced by its underlying geology. The
dominant physical trait of the state is its plateau
character. The Maharashtra Desh is a plateau of
plateaux, its western upturned rims rising to form the
Sahyadri Range and its slopes gently descending
towards the east and southeast. The major rivers and
their master tributaries have carved the plateaux into
alternating broad-river valleys and intervening higher
lever interfluves, such as the Ahmednagar, Buldana,
and Yavatmal plateaux. The Sahyadri Range is the
physical backbone of Maharashtra. Rising on an
average to an elevation of 1000m. it falls in steep
cliffs, to the Konkan on the west. Eastwards, the hill
country falls in steps through a transitional area
known as Mawal to the plateau level. The series of
crowning plateaux on the crest forms a distinctive
feature of the Sahyadri Range. The Konkan, lying
between the Arabian Sea and the Sahyadri Range is
narrow coastal lowland, barely 50 km. wide. Though
mostly below 200 m., it is far from being a plain
country. Highly dissected and broken, the Konkan
alternates between narrow, steep-sided valleys and
low laterite plateaux. The Satpudas, hills along the
northern border, and the Bhamragad-Chiroli-
Gaikhuri Ranges on the eastern border form physical
barriers preventing easy movement, but also serve as
natural limits to the state.
Geology and Topography:-
Except around Mumbai, and along the eastern limits,
the State of Maharashtra presents a monotonously
uniform, flat-topped skyline. This topography of the
state is the outcome of its geological structure. The
state area, barring the extreme eastern Vidarbha
region, parts of Kolhapur and Sindhudurg, is
practically co-terminous with the Deccan Traps.
Roughly 60 to 90 million years ago, the outpouring of
basic lava through fissures formed horizontally
bedded basalt over large areas (10, 11, 26). Variations
in their composition and structure have resulted in
massive, well-jointed steel-grey cliff faces alternating
with structural benches of vesicular amygdaloid lava
and ash layers, all of which contribute to the
pyramida-shaped hills and crest-level plateaux or
mesas. Earth sculpturing under the tropical climate
completed the panorama-sharply defining the
landform features in the semi-arid conditions, and
rounding the hilltops under wetter condition. Fluvial
action by the Krishna, Bhima, Godavari, Tapi-Purna
and Wardha-Wainganga river (21, 22, 25) systems has
further aided in the compartmentalisation of the Desh
into broad, open river valleys, alternating with
plateau interfluves, that form the ribs of the
Sahyadrian backbone. In sharp contrast, the hill
torrents of the Konkan, barely a 100 km. long, tumble
down as roaring streams which flow in deeply
entrenched valleys to terminate in tidal estuaries.
Climite:-
The state enjoys a tropical monsoon climate; the hot
scorching summer from March onwards yields to the
rainy monsoon in early June. The rich green cover of
the monsoon season persists during the mild winter
that follows through an unpleasant October
transition, but turns into a dusty, barren brown as the
summer sets in again. The seasonal rains from the
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western sea-clouds are very heavy and the rainfall is
over 400 cm., on the Sahyadrian crests (23, 24). The
Konkan on the windward side is also endowed with
heavy rainfall, declining northwards. East of the
Sahyadri, the rainfall diminishes to a meagre 70 cm.
in the western plateau districts, with Solapur-
Ahmednagar lying in the heart of the dry zone. The
rains increase slightly, later in the season, eastwards
in the Marathwada and Vidarbha regions. The highly
pulsatory character of the monsoon, with its short
spells of rainy weather and long dry breaks, floods, as
well as droughts add much to the discomfort of the
rural economy.
Resources:-
The total population of Maharashtra is 11.42 crores in
2011 (Table 1). Forests comprising only 17% of the
state area cover the eastern region and the Sahyadri
Range, while open scrub jungle dots the plateaux. If
Maharashtra represented the Maha Kantara in the
historic past, today little of it is left; vast sections have
been denuded and stripped of the vegetal cover. The
soils of Maharashtra are residual, derived from the
underlying basalts. In the semi-dry plateau, the regur
(black-cotton soil) is clayey, rich in iron, but poor in
nitrogen and organic matter; it is moisture-retentive.
Where redeposited along the river valleys, those kali
soils are deeper and heavier, better suited for rabi
crops. Farther away, with a better mixture of lime,
the morand soils form the ideal Kharif zone. The
higher plateau areas have pather soils, which contain
more gravel. In the rainy Konkan, and the Sahyadri
Range, the same basalts give rise to the brick-red
laterites productive under a forest-cover, but readily
stripped into a sterile varkas when the vegetation is
removed. By and large, soils of Maharashtra are
shallow and somewhat poor. Water is the most
precious natural resource of the state, greatly in the
demand, and most unevenly distributed. A large
number of villages lack drinking water, especially
during the summer months, even in the wet Konkan.
Barely 11% of the net sown area is irrigated. Perched
water tables in the basalt aquifers have contributed to
increased well irrigation, which accounts for
approximately 55% of the irrigable water. The
granitic-gneissic terrain in the eastern hilly area of
Vidarbha accounts for all tank irrigation. Tube-wells
in the Tapi-Purna alluvium and shallow wells in the
coastal sands are the other main sources of water. The
mineral-bearing zones of Maharashtra lie beyond the
area of the basalts in eastern Vidarbha, southern
Kolhapur and the Sindhudurg area. The Chandrapur,
Gadchirali, Bhandara and Nagpur Districts form the
main mineral belt, with coal and manganese as the
major minerals and iron ore and limestone as
potential wealth. The Ratnagiri coast contains
sizeable deposits of illimenite.
Politics of Maharashtra:-
Politics of Maharashtra and List of Chief Ministers of
Maharashtra .The politics of the state in the first
decades after its formation in 1960 were dominated
by the Indian National Congress party or its offshoots
such as the Nationalist Congress Party, but since the
1990s Hindu parties have dominated. In the early
years, politics of Maharashtra was dominated by
Congress party figures such as Yashwantrao Chavan,
Vasantdada Patil, Vasantrao Naik and Shankarrao
Chavan. Sharad Pawar, who started his political
career in the Congress party, has been a towering
personality in the state and national politics for over
forty years. During his career, he has split the
Congress twice with significant consequences for the
state politics.The Congress party enjoyed a near
unchallenged dominance of the political landscape
until 1995 when the Shiv Sena and the Bharatiya
Janata Party (BJP) secured an overwhelming majority
in the state to form a coalition government. After his
second parting from the Congress party in 1999,
Sharad Pawar founded the NCP but then formed a
coalition with the Congress to keep out the BJP-Shiv
Sena combine out of the Maharashtra state
government for fifteen years until September 2014.
Prithviraj Chavan of the Congress party was the last
Chief Minister of Maharashtra under the Congress /
NCP alliance. For the 2014 assembly polls, the two
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alliances between NCP and Congress and that
between BJP and Shiv Sena respectively broke down
over seat allocations. In the election, the largest
number of seats went to the Bharatiya Janata Party,
with 122 seats. The BJP initially formed a minority
government under Devendra Fadnavis.The Shiv sena
entered the Government after two months, and
provided a comfortable majority for the alliance in
the Maharashtra Vidhansabha for the duration of the
assembly. In 2019 Lok sabha elections, the BJP-Shiv
Sena alliance secured 41 seat out 48 from the state.
Later in 2019, the BJP and Shiv Sena alliance fought
the assembly elections together but the alliance broke
down after the election over the post of chief minister.
Uddhav Thackeray of Shiv Sena then formed an
alternative governing coalition under his leadership
with his erstwhile opponents from NCP, INC, and a
number of independent members of legislative
assembly. On 28 November 2019, Thackeray took
oath as 19th Chief minister of Maharashtra after being
elected as the president of the newly formed coalition
named Maha Vikas Aghadi.
State representation in Indian Parliament:-
The people of Maharashtra also elect 48 members to
the Lok Sabha, the lower house of the Indian
Parliament. In the 2014 general elections, the
National Democratic Alliance (NDA), consisting of
the Bharatiya Janata Party, the Shiv Sena, and
Swabhimani Paksha, won 23, 18, and 1 seats,
respectively. The NDA retained its dominance in the
state by winning 41 out of the 48 seats in the 2019
Lok Sabha elections. The members of the state
Legislative Assembly elect 19 members to the Rajya
Sabha, the upper house of the Indian Parliament.
Local government:-
A Gram panchayat office in a Abdul Lat village,
Kolhapur district The state has a long tradition of
highly powerful planning bodies at district and local
levels. Local self governance institutions in rural areas
include 34 zilla parishads (district councils), 355
Taluka Panchayat samitis (district Sub-division
councils) and 27,993 Gram panchayats (village
councils). Urban areas in the state are governed by 27
Municipal Corporations, 222 Municipal Councils, four
Nagar Panchayats and seven Cantonment
Boards.[100][134] Although Maharashtra had Gram
panchayat with elected members since 1961, the 73rd
amendment to the Indian constitution of 1993 put in
place a statutory requirement of 33% of seats on the
panchayats reserved for women.In addition, 33% of
the sarpanch (panchayat chief) positions were also
reserved for women. Although the amendment
boosted the number of women leaders at the village
level, there have been cases of harassment by male
members of the panchayat towards the female
members of the organisations.The administration in
each district is headed by a District Collector, who
belongs to the Indian Administrative Service and is
assisted by a number of officers belonging to
Maharashtra state services. The Superintendent of
Police, an officer belonging to the Indian Police
Service and assisted by the officers of the Maharashtra
Police Service, maintains law and order in addition to
other related issues in each district. The Divisional
Forest Officer, an officer belonging to the Indian
Forest Service, manages the forests, environment, and
wildlife of the district, assisted by the officers of
Maharashtra Forest Service and Maharashtra Forest
Subordinate Service. Sectoral development in the
districts is looked after by the district head of each
development department, such as Public Works,
Health, Education, Agriculture and Animal
Husbandry.
Judiciary:-
The Bombay High Court, one of the most
distinguished high courts in India The judiciary in the
state consists of the Maharashtra High Court (The
High Court of Bombay), district and session courts in
each district and lower courts and judges at the taluka
level. The High Court has regional branches at
Nagpur and Aurangabad in Maharashtra and Panaji
which is the capital of Goa. The state cabinet on 13
May 2015 passed a resolution favouring the setting up
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of one more bench of the Bombay high court in
Kolhapur, covering the region. The President of India
appoints the chief justice of the High Court of the
Maharashtra judiciary on the advice of the chief
justice of the Supreme Court of India as well as the
Governor of Maharashtra. Other judges are appointed
by the chief justice of the high court of the judiciary
on the advice of the Chief Justice. Subordinate
Judicial Service is another vital part of the judiciary of
Maharashtra. The subordinate judiciary or the district
courts are categorised into two divisions: the
Maharashtra civil judicial services and higher judicial
service. While the Maharashtra civil judicial services
comprises the Civil Judges (Junior Division)/Judicial
Magistrates and civil judges (Senior Division)/Chief
Judicial Magistrate, the higher judicial service
comprises civil and sessions judges. The Subordinate
judicial service of the judiciary is controlled by the
District Judge.
Trends across Marathwada and Vidarbha:-
The present study accepted out with an investigative
strategy of social research on farmer’s suicide trend in
Maharashtra state, Over 15,000 farmers have
committed suicide in Maharashtra between 2013 and
2018. In Vidarbha and Marathwada from January
2001 to July 2018, a total of 29602farmers from 18
districts of died by suicide. About 83.74% of the
state's total farmer suicides were in the
two regions of Vidarbha and Marathwada 1, 2, 3, 4).
The highest farmer suicide in Amravati division is
57.8%, than Nagpur division 15.6%, Aurangabad
division 13.6%, Nasik division 8.3%, Pune division 4.5%
and lowest farmer suicide 0.8% in Konkan division. A
farming disaster has rainfall a spate of suicides in
Maharashtra. The suicide mortality rate for farmers in
the state has increased from 2001 to 2018 (Fig. 2).
Farmer suicides are an unfortunate result of the
agrarian distress plaguing the rural economy of many
states of the country. Vidarbha (Table 2) and
Marathwada (Table 3) regions in Maharashtra have
recorded very high numbers of farmer suicides, and
an attempt to calculate the number of suicides and the
suicide mortality rate is the first step towards gaining
an in-depth understanding of the prevalence and
seriousness of the issue. An analysis of the data
reveals the relationship between farmer suicides and
issues such as monsoon failure, water shortage,
drought, absence of social security, robust crop
procurement mechanisms and increasing debt
burdens. For over two and a half decades, suicides by
the farming community in India have become a cause
for concern At the all-India level, states like Andhra
Pradesh, Karnataka and Maharashtra have become
the hotspots of farmer suicides .This issue in India has
triggered academic discourse, but very few public
policy initiatives have been put forth to redress a
problem of this magnitude. By now, it is clear that
suicide by farmers is a complex phenomenon. It is
easy to quantify the suicide deaths; however, it is
difficult to decode the reasons in their entirety. It is
estimated that during the period between 2001 and
2018 (Fig 3), the years of life lost on account of farmer
suicides increased by 12%. During the same period,
India moved from the 20th to the eighth position in
the global index of life lost due to suicides. As per the
Global Burden of Disease (GBD) estimate of 2010,
India accounts for 35.6% of the global years of life lost
on account of suicides. It is more than double of its
global population share. In India, the data on suicides
is collected and published by the National Crime
Records Bureau (NCRB). Information compiled by
police stations goes to the respective state crime
records bureau (SCRB)/criminal investigation
department (CID) and then to the NCRB, which
compiles information at the national level. However,
in India, what is reported by the NCRB is just half of
the GBD estimate. links such poor reporting to the
Indian Penal Code, which holds suicide as a criminal
act,1 or to the society which often does not report a
suicide to avoid social stigma. Further, it needs to be
noted that suicides by cultivators and agricultural
labourers cannot be termed as farmer suicides. This is
because in India cultivators and agricultural labourers
are two distinct groups of the rural population. In
some countries, suicides by cultivators are included in
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Prof. Vikas V. Ade Int J Sci Res Sci Eng Technol January-February-2021; 8 (1) : 248-261
254
suicides by agricultural workers. In Europe and North
America, which have small population groups, suicide
rates are computed for “farm population” that
includes farm owners and workers. However, in the
Indian context, cultivators and agricultural labourers
being two distinctly large population groups cannot
be clubbed together. Besides an economic dimension,
such classification also has a social dimension.
Another vital factor that complicates the estimation
of farmer suicides in India is that in states like
Maharashtra, a large number of them are categorised
as ineligible suicides. The classification as eligible and
ineligible farmer suicides has a significant
connotation, especially when it comes to the ex-gratia
compensation of 1 lakh granted by the state
government to the family of a deceased farmer. For
the administrative machinery, a farmer who dies by
suicide but does not possess the 7/12 abstract in their
name (a revenue department land record stating
presumptive title of land ownership), is not deemed
eligible to be treated as a farmer. In Maharashtra, the
proportion of such cases is one of the highest. Thus,
farmer suicides at the state level and thereby at the
all-India level are grossly underestimated.
Accordingly, this paper proceeds as follows. The
following section articulates the methods of analysis
and describes the sources of the data. The review of
literature on farmers’ suicides is discussed in the next
section, while the regional profile of Marathwada and
Vidarbha is given in the section following it. Moving
further, an attempt is made to bring out the spatial
and temporal analysis of the data pertaining to the
various aspects of farmer suicides in the two regions
of Marathwada and Vidarbha. The section after that
focuses on the complexity of eligible and ineligible
farmer suicides and the final section concludes the
article.
Farmers' Suicide Causes:-
In the Maharashtra are various causes are
environmental disasters economic imbalance, social
and individual causes of farmers’ suicide in
Maharashtra.
1 Environmental Disasters:- The global warming are
an effective agricultural production is mostly depends
on favorable weather condition. Deforestation and
other manmade reasons natural condition has become
more worsen and reasons like heavy raining, floods,
droughts, delay in raining, heavy cyclones etc.
farmers unable to take qualitative and quantitative
production from their farm. They again & again put
their all efforts in the agriculture. Continuous losses
turn them to become insolvent and frustration of the
same forces them to commit suicides (33, 35).
2. Crop letdown: - India is an agricultural land 65% of
family depends on rain the probability of farming
committing suicide is more during bad rain years.
Inspire of the farmers work the production of the
crop low which is also one of the basic causes of
farmer’s suicide
3. Thankfulness and low income: Rural farmers often
become burdened with over debt. The farmers are
indebted because of low income the farmers have to
face many social and financial problems. To arrange
dowry for daughter and sisters marriage much
expenditure than income daily dispute in family
inability to fulfill requirement of family members lead
to farmer’s suicide
4. Values of farm product:- The government does not
seen to be paying attention to this vicious circle.
Nobody has tried to fix the prices based on the cost of
the agricultural production. It would be seen that in
the last twenty years the prices of the farm product
have relatively dropped as compare to the prices of
other product. It is often seen that when sowing
season for the kharif and rubi crops come the prices of
the grains reach much more but when harvesting
season comes the rate drops (34, 36).
5. Growth in cost of production:- The digging, soil
maintenance, for insecticides, pesticides, cutting,
transportation and selling of products requires money
In addition to this hybrid seeds are also requires for
good quality & quantity of product, which are very
costly and not affordable to marginal and poor
farmers. Increase in cost of production which forces
to farmers to commit suicide.
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6. Agriculture loan:- Farming related activities like
taking bore well, pipeline setting purchasing
seeds ,bees, tractors and others related things to the
farm. But there are lot hindrances and impediments
while sanctioning such lone amount to the farmers by
bank finalizing all the related documents is almost
like an ordeal. So most of the farmers at the critical
time traditional source of money as like savkar ,
money lenders come to their help and sanctions loan
immediately but charges interest at the very high rate
even after accepting all such adversities a natural
calamities make a great sabotage to the farm and
finally the farmers are totally collapsed because not a
single agro product is encased
7. Income disparities in economy:-Today, the person
who is rich is becoming rich and one who is poor is
becoming poor therefore the valley of reciprocal
economy is increasing day by day so the farmers are
turning to suicide.
8. Costly modern agriculture technique:- After the
green revolution and innovation of new technologies
new hybrid seeds, insecticides, pesticides and farm
cultivation technologies makes farming more easier
and production is increased considerably. But these
technologies and innovations are so costly and not
affordable to poor small and marginal farmers.
9. Additional Causes:-lack of basic infrastructural
facilities like safe drinking water, inadequate health
facilities, transport facilities, proper food, cloth and
shelter affects on psychological and physical
condition of the farmers. Sometimes they become
drug addicted and drunker. All these things attracted
heavy diseases and turn them to die.
Table No. 1 Population of Maharashtra districts 2011
Rank
District
Papulaion
Sex Ratio
Male
Female
Total
Share
Ural
Urban
F- Per
1000
M
M- Per
100 F
1
Thane
5,865,078
5,195,070
11,060,148
9.84
23.01
76.99
886
112.897
2
Pune
4,924,105
4,505,303
9,429,408
8.39
39.01
60.99
915
109.296
3
Mumbai
Suburban
5,031,323
4,325,639
9,356,962
8.33
0.00
100.00
860
116.314
4
Nashik
3,157,186
2,950,001
6,107,187
5.43
57.47
42.53
934
107.023
5
Nagpur
2,384,975
2,268,595
4,653,570
4.14
31.69
68.31
951
105.130
6
Ahmadnagar
2,342,825
2,200,334
4,543,159
4.04
79.91
20.09
939
106.476
7
Solapur
2,227,852
2,089,904
4,317,756
3.84
67.60
32.40
938
106.601
8
Jalgaon
2,197,365
2,032,552
4,229,917
3.76
68.26
31.74
925
108.109
9
Kolhapur
1,980,658
1,895,343
3,876,001
3.45
68.27
31.73
957
104.501
10
Aurangabad
1,924,469
1,776,813
3,701,282
3.29
56.23
43.77
923
108.310
11
Nanded
1,730,075
1,631,217
3,361,292
2.99
72.81
27.19
943
106.060
12
Mumbai
1,684,608
1,400,803
3,085,411
2.75
0.00
100.00
832
120.260
13
Satara
1,510,842
1,492,899
3,003,741
2.67
81.01
18.99
988
101.202
14
Amravati
1,480,768
1,407,677
2,888,445
2.57
64.09
35.91
951
105.192
15
Sangli
1,435,728
1,386,415
2,822,143
2.51
74.51
25.49
966
103.557
16
Yavatmal
1,419,965
1,352,383
2,772,348
2.47
78.42
21.58
952
104.997
17
Raigarh
1,344,345
1,289,855
2,634,200
2.34
63.17
36.83
959
104.225
18
Buldana
1,337,560
1,248,698
2,586,258
2.30
78.78
21.22
934
107.116
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256
19
Bid
1,349,106
1,235,943
2,585,049
2.30
80.10
19.90
916
109.156
20
Latur
1,273,140
1,181,056
2,454,196
2.18
74.53
25.47
928
107.797
21
Chandrapur
1,123,834
1,080,473
2,204,307
1.96
64.82
35.18
961
104.013
22
Dhule
1,054,031
996,831
2,050,862
1.83
72.16
27.84
946
105.738
23
Jalna
1,011,473
947,573
1,959,046
1.74
80.73
19.27
937
106.744
24
Parbhani
942,870
893,216
1,836,086
1.63
68.97
31.03
947
105.559
25
Akola
932,334
881,572
1,813,906
1.61
60.32
39.68
946
105.758
26
Osmanabad
861,535
796,041
1,657,576
1.48
83.04
16.96
924
108.227
27
Nandurbar
833,170
815,125
1,648,295
1.47
83.29
16.71
978
102.214
28
Ratnagiri
761,121
853,948
1,615,069
1.44
83.67
16.33
1,122
89.130
29
Gondiya
661,554
660,953
1,322,507
1.18
82.92
17.08
999
100.091
30
Wardha
668,385
632,389
1,300,774
1.16
67.46
32.54
946
105.692
31
Bhandara
605,520
594,814
1,200,334
1.07
80.52
19.48
982
101.800
32
Washim
620,302
576,858
1,197,160
1.07
82.34
17.66
930
107.531
33
Hingoli
606,294
571,051
1,177,345
1.05
84.82
15.18
942
106.172
34
Gadchiroli
541,328
531,614
1,072,942
0.95
89.00
11.00
982
101.827
35
Sindhudurg
417,332
432,319
849,651
0.76
87.41
12.59
1,036
96.533
Table 2. Absolute and relative number of farmers’ suicides in various divisions of Maharashtra.
Division
Number of
Farmers
Suicide
Percent to
Total Number
Liable for
grant
Percent of
liable for
grant to total
suicides
Konkan Division
12
0.1
12
100
Pune Division
585
4.6
321
54.9
Nasik Division
1040
8.3
598
57.5
Aurangabad Division
1713
13.6
866
50.55
Nagpur Division
1967
15.6
796
40.5
Amravati Division
7274
57.8
2469
33.9
Maharashtra
12591
100
5062
40.2
Table 3. Absolute and relative number of farmers’ suicides in districts of Vidarabha.
District
Farmers suicide
Number
Percentage
Napur
403
3.2
Wardha
789
6.3
Chandrapur
323
2.6
Gadchiroli
59
0.5
Bhandara
280
2.2
Gondia
113
0.9
Amravati
1798
14.3
Akola
1079
8.6
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257
Buldhana
1212
9.6
Yawatmal
2289
18.2
Washim
896
7.1
Vidarabha
9241
73.5
Table 4. Number of farmers suicides in Marathwada region
Year
Aurang
abad
Latur
Beed
Prabhan
i
Jalna
Hingo
li
Osmanab
ad
Nanded
Total
2010
02
04
79
22
04
02
23
55
191
2011
00
04
73
23
06
05
25
33
169
2012
02
00
91
35
06
03
22
39
198
2013
04
03
98
17
08
02
29
146
207
2014
56
44
152
70
32
31
71
118
574
2015
144
106
301
104
83
41
164
190
1133
2016
151
116
222
989
76
49
161
180
1053
2017
139
94
207
125
91
56
126
153
991
Total
498
371
1223
494
306
189
621
814
4516
(Source: Divisional Commission rate Office, Aurangabad)
Table 5 Farmer Suicide in Maharashtra (2001-2018).
Year
Total No. of
Cases
Year
Total No. of
Cases
2001
62
2010
1741
2002
122
2011
1518
2003
180
2012
1473
2004
640
2013
1296
2005
609
2014
1981
2006
2376
2015
3228
2007
2076
2016
3051
2008
1966
2017
2917
2009
1605
2018
2,761
Total
29602
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258
Fig. 1: Location Map Maharashtra State
Fig. 2 Number of Farmers Suicide
Konkan
0%
Pune Division
5%
Nasik
8%
Aurangabad
13%
Nagpur
16%
Amravati
58%
Number of Farmers Suicide
Konkan
Pune Division
Nasik
Aurangabad
Nagpur
Amravati
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Prof. Vikas V. Ade Int J Sci Res Sci Eng Technol January-February-2021; 8 (1) : 248-261
259
Fig. 3 Farmer Suicide in Maharashtra
V. CONCLUSION
Maharashtra has recorded as many as 32,605 farmer
suicides in the 19-year span between 2001 and 2019,
shows the latest state revenue department data. This
means the average number of cases per year was 1,716.
Overall, the number of farmer suicides in the state
has shown a rise. Nearly 14,898 cases were reported
in the fiveyear period between 2015 and This is a
steep jump from 8,071 cases reported in the previous
five years—2010 to 2014. As many as 9,272 farmer
suicide cases were reported in the five-year period
between 2004 and 2009, according to the data.The
agriculture sector largely depends on rainy season.
Rainy season plays critical role in the agriculture
development of Maharashtra. On the basis of the
result of the study it can be concluded that
indebtedness, low productivity crop failure, more
expenditure than income tension of daughter’s
marriage and continuous pressure from money
lenders and banks persons for repayments etc. were
the major causes of suicide of farmers. Farmers leader
and social leaders should come together and help the
farmers and should reduce the rate of suicide. So it is
necessary to implement income generating activities
which may reduce the farmer suicide. It is necessary
to encourage the farmers to adopt allied activities like
dairy, fishery and poultry etc. with farming activities.
In order to solve the problem of farmers suicide a
holistic approach is necessary.
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Cite this article as :
Prof. Vikas V. Ade, "Trends and Causes of Farmers
Suicide in Maharashtra State, India", International
Journal of Scientific Research in Science, Engineering
and Technology (IJSRSET), Online ISSN : 2394-4099,
Print ISSN : 2395-1990, Volume 8 Issue 1, pp. 248-261,
January-February 2021. Available at
doi : https://doi.org/10.32628/IJSRSET218145
Journal URL : https://ijsrset.com/IJSRSET218145
