Farmer Suicides in 2018 at 12-year low says NCRB.How reliable is data?
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
February 4, 2020
NCRB’s 2018 report on ‘Accidental Deaths & Suicides’ reveals that the number of farmer suicides is at a 12-year low in 2018. But how reliable is NCRB data? Do we have enough data to understand the problem in its entirety?
Vast majority ofrural Indian population is still dependent on agriculture. The ongoingagricultural distress has taken a toll and it is evident from the large numberof farm related suicides over the last two decades. Unsustainable agriculture,indebtedness and climate change driven weather patterns have only exacerbatedthe problem.
The National CrimeRecords Bureau ( NCRB’s)report on ‘Accidental
Deaths and Suicides in India’has revealed that the number of farmer suicides has dropped in 2017 and 2018.But does the data give an actual picture of the reality?
Suicides in agricultural sector reach a 12-year low in
2018
According to the data reported in the NCRB report, suicides in the agricultural sector in India reduced to 10,655 in 2017 and 10,349 in 2018. The number of suicides in 2018 is the lowest in the 12-year period starting in 2006.
The number ofsuicides reduced by 6.2% in 2017 compared to the year before. However, thereduction in 2018 was only 2.9%. In 2017 & 2018, suicides of those in theagricultural sector as reported by NCRB accounted for 8.2% and 7.7% respectively,of the total suicides recorded in India.
NCRB presents dataon farmer suicides in terms of farmers/cultivator and agricultural labourers.Farmers or cultivators are those whose profession is farming whereasagricultural labourers are those who work in the farming sector or in otherwords, they earn income from agricultural labour activities.
Around 56% of the suicides in the sector are of ‘farmers
or cultivators’
Since 2016, thepercentage of farmers/cultivators who committed suicide revolved around 56%while the percentage of agricultural labourers who committed suicideconstituted the remaining 44%. In 2017 and 2018, female farmers made up for 5%of the total farmer suicides. In the case of agricultural labourers, around 11%of the reported suicides were of female labourers. In 2017, one transgenderlabourer was also reported to have committed suicide.
Proportion of suicides by farmers owning the land they
cultivate has increased in the last three years
Based on landownership, there are two types of farmers or cultivators- those who cultivateon their own land and those who cultivate on leased land or other’s land. Whilethe numbers show a decline in number of farmer suicides, proportion of farmersuicides who owned the land they cultivated has increased from 84% in 2016 to 87%in 2017 and 88% in 2018. Of the incidents reported, around 4.8% of the farmerswho had owned the land they cultivated and 9.4% of those who did not own werefemales.
Maharashtra continues to account for one-third of the Farm
related suicides
State-wise analysis of these suicides reveals that Maharashtra continues to account for more than one-third of the cases reported across the country. Karnataka (23%) has reported the second-highest number of incidents followed by Telangana (9%). Ten states with the maximum number of suicides in 2018 accounted for more than 95% of the suicides in the country.
Of all thesuicides across the country, 39% of the farmers/cultivators suicides werereported in Maharashtra and 24% in Karnataka. 99% of the suicides reported inTelangana were that of farmers/cultivators. In smaller states such as Mizoramand Manipur, all the cases reported were that of farmers/cultivators.
In the case of agricultural labourers, 38% of the incidents were in Maharashtra, 23% in Karnataka and 9% in Tamil Nadu. More than 98.5% of the suicides in the farming sector in Tamil Nadu were that of agricultural labourers. Same is the case in Kerala, Gujarat, Assam, and Jammu and Kashmir. All the cases of suicides reported in the farming sector in Haryana (104), Jharkhand (58), Tripura, Arunachal Pradesh and Nagaland were that of labourers.
21% of all the suicides in Karnataka are Farm related
Analysis of the proportion of suicides of those in the agricultural sector compared to the total number of suicides in a state shows that 21.5% of the suicides in Mizoram were farm-related. However, the total number of suicides in Mizoram was only 79.  Of the bigger states,  suicides in the farming sector accounted for 20.8% of the total suicides in Karnataka followed by 20% in Maharashtra and 18.8% in Punjab.
The states ofBihar, Goa, Meghalaya, Odisha, Uttarakhand, and West Bengal have reported zero suicidesof farmers or agricultural labourers in 2018.
Are NCRB’s numbers reliable?
While the suicidedata of NCRB is the only comprehensive source of such information, questionsregarding the reliability of the data remain.
For instance,Odisha reported ‘zero’ suicides of farmers and agricultural labourers in both2017 & 2018. However, if one goes by the answer provided by the Governmentof Odisha in the state assembly, the numbers look different. As per thisanswer, during the financial years up to March 2019, a total of 38 cases offarmer suicides were reported in Odisha. These numbers were presented in the state
assembly by the agriculture ministry in July2019. In 2016-17, 16 cases were reported. In  2017-18, 20 cases were reported and in2018-19, 2 cases were reported. The government also added that none of thesecases were due to financial burden or crop loss.
It has to be notedthat the numbers reported by NCRB do not consider reasons for suicide. Hencethere appears to be a clear conflict in the case of Odisha.
From 2016, NCRB has omitted certain key data on Farmer
Suicides
Based on Odisha’s example, the possibility of underestimation of such suicides cannot be ruled out. Also, NCRB collects data from the State/UT Police and compiles the data. From the 2016 report onwards, NCRB has omitted key sections related to farmer suicides from the ADSI report. These include causes of farmer suicides such as personal issues, health issues, financial problems, or crop-related issues; landholding size such as marginal, small, medium, and large farmers.
Study by ISEC in 2017 classified reasons of farmer
suicides
A study on farmer suicides was conducted by the Institute for Social And Economic Change (ISEC), Bengaluru in 2017 across 13 major states in the country which reported a high number of incidents. This study was commissioned by the Department of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare, Government of India.
As a part of thestudy, about 528 victim households were surveyed. The study classified causesof suicide into three main categories namely- social causes, farming relatedcauses and debt related causes. The study recorded debt related issues, farmingrelated issues and social causes separately for each of the suicide cases.
Under farmingrelated causes, expectation of non- institutional credit was identified to bethe reason behind 37% of incidents and failure of rain was the reason behind36% of the incidents. Institutional loans were the reason stated by 44% of thehouseholds surveyed.  Social issuesinclude alcoholism and drugs, illness, daughter’s wedding, fall in reputation,family disputes and more. Alcoholism and drugs were reported in 26% of thecases. The study mentions that the act of committing suicide was a combinationof several cumulative causes which can be grouped into social, farming and debtrelated. Or in short, there can be multiple reasons that might have led tosuicide.
Multiple schemes rolled out for Farmers
Since agriculture is a state subject, the implementation of programs falls under the purview ofstate government. There are many schemes rolled out by governments for the welfareof farmers. States like Telangana, Odisha etc. have rolled out directinvestment support to farmers. The Government of India is also doing the sameunder PM-Kisan. In addition, central government has floated the Pradhan
Mantri Fasal Bhima Yojana for comprehensiveinsurance coverage for crops, Paramparagat Krishi Vikas Yojana for promotingorganic farming, Pradhan Mantri Annadata Aay Sanrakshan Abhiyan to ensureremunerative price for products, Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi, a pensionscheme for small and marginal farmers.
Need
for more granular real-time data & mitigative measures
While the centralgovernment and various state governments are implementing multiple schemes forfarmers, there is a need for more granular real-time data for one to understandthe problem of farmer suicides in its entirety. Detailed reasons & profileof those committing suicide have to be captured to understand the extent &the underlying cause of such suicides. Mitigative measures should flow fromthese identified reasons.