Hindustan Times: Gujarat:
Thursday, April 10, 2014.
Contrary to
claims made by the Gujarat government that only one farmer committed suicide in
the last 10 years after Arvind Kejriwal raised the issue of farmer suicides HT
has documents that at least 54 farmers killed themselves for agrarian reasons. HT
travelled to Gujarat to get first-hand accounts of families of farmers who were
forced to take the extreme step after their crop was destroyed. An RTI
application was also put with the union ministry of agriculture to source state
data on farmer suicides. Gujarat reported ‘nil’ in its report to the
ministry.
Uka
bhai Barad, Dhamrej village, Gir Somnath district
Date
of suicide: October 16, 2012
Uka Bhai, 61,
was a marginal farmer with a just four acres of land. He and his family were
dependent on this land for livelihood. In 2011, the crop had failed and they
had lost whatever they had invested. Next year again, Uka Bhai took loans
hoping for better weather conditions, but the result was no different.
“When the
crops failed again in 2012 there was no money even to buy food. My father had
stopped talking to us few days before he committed suicide. He was completely devastated,” said Dilip
Bhai Barad, 35, youngest son of Uka bhai, adding, “We did not get any help from
the government.”
The FIR filed
by Sutrapada police station states the reason of suicide to be failure of
groundnut crops. On the night of October
15, Uka bhai told his family he was going to the fields to keep a vigil on
stray animals. He consumed poison and killed himself instead.
Ranjit
Barad, Dhamrej village, Gir Somnath district
Date
of suicide: August 30, 2012
On the
morning of August 30, Ranjit Barad, 31, left his house for the fields and promised
wife Rasila ben Barad, 30, he would be back soon. He even told her to get ready
as they were to attend a relative’s funeral. But Ranjit had no money even for
the bus ride that would take them to the funeral.
“I was
getting worried waiting for him. But he never came back. Soon, I was told he
has hanged himself from a tree in the field,” Rasila ben said. As crops had
failed, there was no income and so no money to repay the loans.
The first
information report (FIR) filed by Sutrapada police station, states that the
reason of suicide was the failure of groundnut and BT cotton crops. “We had
taken loans of about `50,000 from bank and had mortgaged my jewellery for `1
lakh. Ranjit knew that he will never be able to get back my jewellery as the
crops had failed. He used to blame himself for losing my jewellery,” lamented
Rasila ben.
Rasila ben is
worried as she has to still repay the bank loan and take care of her children.
“I have two children and there is no one to take care of them. If crops fail
again, I don’t know what will I do,” she said.
Girish
Bhai Parmar, Kotdapitha village, Amreli district
Date
of suicide: August 27, 2011
“If the
government had helped us that year when our crop failed, my son would have been
alive today,” said an ailing Laabhu ben Parmar, 69, mother of Girish
Parmar.
Girish, 25,
was the youngest of four brothers and was responsible for agricultural
purchases. “My son was very efficient
and used to deal with the shopkeepers and traders,” said Laabhu ben.
In the first
week of July 2011, Parmars had sown BT-cotton over nine acres but it failed
because of incessant rains. A few days later, in mid August, they sowed the
same crop again. But the result was no different. “It was double crop failure.
Girish was shattered and became restless,” said Laabhu ben.
On the
morning of August 27, he went to the fields and hanged himself inside the vadi
(store room) near the fields. When Girish committed suicide, the family had a
collective loan of more than `s 2 lakh from the bank and nearby seed shops.
Even after three years, they are struggling to repay it.
The Babra
police station, under the right to information (RTI) act, admitted that the
suicide was a result of cotton crop failure.
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