Visualization of Farmers’ Suicides in India: A Regional Study

Agriculture is the single largest source of employment in India and nearly 60 percent of Indian population depends on agriculture for their livelihood. Today, Indian agriculture is facing crisis and the Indian farmers are trapped in a vicious circle of crop loss, low price and indebtedness that forces many farmers to commit suicide. Increasing incidence of farmer’s suicide is an issue of great concern in India. Using data from Accidental Deaths and Suicides in India, by National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), this paper examines the incidence and trends in farmers’ suicide in India as well as states and the linkages between indebtedness and farmers’ suicides. The findings suggest that, during 2001-2011, about 184,169 farmers have lost their lives by committing suicide in India. In 2011 alone, about 14,027 farmers have committed suicide. i.e., “in every 31 minutes a farmer is committing suicide”. The western region of the country that comprises of states like Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat and Rajasthan accounted for the highest number of farmer suicides (38 percent) followed by southern region (37 percent) constituted by the five contiguous states of south India viz. Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Goa.