Maharashtra: 300 cases of farmers' suicides recorded in November; Marathwada worst-affected

In what comes as a shocking revelation, recent data shows that there has been a record increase in farmers' suicides in Maharashtra, specifically in the month of November 2019. Data shows that 300 farmers across the state ended their lives in the month.

Among these deaths, a record number of suicides occurred in the Marathwada region alone - where as many as 120 farmers committed suicide in eight districts of Aurangabad, Jalna, Beed, Latur, Osmanabad, Nanded, Parbhani, and Hingoli.

Marathwada has come out as the hotbed of farmers' suicides in Maharashtra, throughout the past year. In 2019, the number of farmers' suicides in this region was recorded to be as high as 835, spread variably across each month. These are as follows - January (62), February (67), March (69), April (71), May (83), June (82), July (85), August (76), September (61), October (59), and November (120).

As can be seen, there is a record jump in farmers' suicides in the span between October and November. This is because there occurred for the peasants a huge loss in Kharif crops, due to the unseasonal rainfall. This lead to a spurt in farmers' suicides.

Zee Media managed to contact the widow, Savita Dalve Pati, of a farmer living in Itkoor village in Kalamb tehsil of Marathwada, Osmanabad. She is taking care of her three children, two daughters between 12-15 years of age and a son aged 10 years. Her husband, a farmer named Prashant Dalve, committed suicide in the month of October. The unseasonal rains in October 2019 had damaged the soybean fields of Dalve. He had planted soybeans in five acres of land after taking a loan of Rs 65 thousand from the bank. Dalve was worried due to financial constraints and told his wife that he will make arrangements for the money. However, the money could not be arranged and he made a phone call to his wife to convey to her that it was his last call.

Savita narrated the incident to Zee Media and said that November was a tough time for every farmer family in Maharashtra. On one hand, there was high drama regarding the struggle for seizing political power in the state, while on the other, the unseasonal rainfall had affected the farmers to such an extent that they were forced to commit suicides. Savita Dalve said that their family had not been helped by the government even after two months of hardships. The MLA and MP had come, she said, but only discussions were held. In such an unfortunate backdrop of events, the sad reality is that several affected farmer families still await help from the government.