Despite loan waiver schemes, farmer suicides continue- What really is the problem?

The Punjab, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh and now the Rajasthan governments have announced farm loan waiver schemes.

Data from the Maharashtra revenue department says that 260 farmers committed suicide only in the month of August. 722 is the number of farmers who killed themselves after Devendra Fadnavis government's massive Rs 34,000 crore loan waiver announcement. Farmers are dying and loan waiver schemes are doing little to change that reality. What really ails the Indian farmer? Lack of long-term initiatives to sustain farmer income, experts believe.

The numbers paint a grim picture not just in Maharashtra but across the country. 169 farmers have committed suicide in Punjab, another state where Congress' Captain Amarinder has announced a loan waiver scheme, from April 1 to September 9. News of farmer suicides, experts say, has become a daily affair in Punjab, one of the largest contributors of agricultural produce in India.

"The understanding that farm loan waiver is supposed to take care of all problems is incorrect. This is just a short-term measure to bring the farmers into the mainstream but after that, we need to follow it up with long-term measures. The crisis if fundamentally of income. We have deprived the farmers of their income," said agricultural activists and researcher Devindra Sharma.

He added that long-term efforts need to be aimed at ensuring continuous and sustainable income for the farmer. "The effort has to be on ensuring how to give farmers incentives and unfortunately, no government wants to do this," he added.

The Telangana government submitted a report on farmer suicides to the Rajya Sabha where it claimed that 1,990 farmers had killed themselves in 2015 and 2016. The National Crime Records Bureau data from 2015 backs the claim.

According to the NCRB data from 2015, the highest number of farmer suicides occurred in Maharashtra with 3,030 farmers killing themselves followed by Telangana with 1,358 farmer suicides. 1,197 farmers killed themselves in Karnataka while Chhattisgarh saw 854 suicides. Madhya Pradesh stood next with 516 farmer suicides.

In the last ten days alone, reports state that 34 farmers committed suicide in Marathwada. One of the farmers blamed Narendra Modi government for his death. 45-year-old Prakash Mangaonkar at Titwi village some 160 km from Nagpur was found hanging dead from a tree on Saturday. The teak tree that he chose to kill himself from bore witness to the plight of the farmer. On two leaves of the tree, he had scribbled the reason for his decision. On one he wrote "Modi Sarkar" and on another "Karzmafi". The redtapism that delayed loan waiver scheme took this farmer's life away, the family alleges.

"Income of farmers have been the same for decades now. The government has increased salaries for legislators, teachers, daily wage workers by hundreds of times but when it comes to supporting price for farmers, the numbers are laughable. We do not want a loan waiver, just give our produce their worth. Give us the assurance of minimum support price so we can grow in peace," said Ayyakannu who is leading a farmers' agitation in New Delhi. A group of farmers from Tamil Nadu has been protesting for 100 days but no political party has batted an eyelid over their plight.

The Uttar Pradesh government's enthusiasm over loan waiver has led to gaffes with farmers receiving a certificate of waiver for amounts as low as 9 paise or Rs 1.50. The Maharashtra government's steps to ensure only genuine farmers get benefits and online screening process has only delayed the waiver from being disbursed. In Punjab, farmers are still fighting for complete loan waiver.

While the state government faces an uncertain future, Tamil Nadu farmers are protesting for relief in Delhi. The plight of the Indian farmer is going unnoticed and more the urban citizenry turns a blind eye towards it, the most will the farmers be pushed to distraught.

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