Why Indian Farmers End Their Lives
This post is dedicated to our Indian farmers who suffers due to various known and UN-known reasons and finally end their lives leaving back their family alone.
It's been almost seven decades since India has got independence. It is true that farmers, majority of the country's population, are having low living standers and suffer a lot, due to many reasons. We hear a lot about farmer suicides on TV, newspapers and movies. If we ask anyone, other than a farmer, why it happens, we hear only one answer "Un-payable debt". But this is not 100% true. If we try to study village affairs, for e.g. just go and talk regularly to the same village man about two months. He won't give you true picture.
What is the specific problem or gap, and how does it get addressed ?
I know nothing about the ground reality but I assume that Indian farmers are very poor. This could be one of the major reason for suicides. But Indian farmers have more than their fair share of natural disasters, clueless government policy, rapacious moneylenders, etc. Below are the some of the problems which farmers are facing now.
1. Lack of government's intervention. The farmers' suicides are totally unnecessary and were in most cases, the result of man-made policies. It's not droughts and floods which forced farmers so much to take their lives, if government takes necessary action to educate or make them aware about their policies to take maximum benefits out of it.
2. Worse is the way our banks behave. Many of the banks refuse to give loans to farmers, unless say the Panchayat intervenes. Sometimes, the head of the Panchayat (Mukhiya/Sarpanch) colludes with the banks to ensure that people have to pay bribes to get loans, sometimes the bank officials ask for bribes on their own.
3. If farmers are not able to get loans from banks, then they go to moneylenders, who are generally the big landlords in most villages. They offer loan and charge high interest rate, it can be as high as 40-50% for the year.
4. Farmers depend mostly on rains for water, any changes in rain patterns lead to issues with crops, and in many cases the crop gets destroyed either due to lack of water or too much water.
What could be the solution ?
As current Modi government's one of the primary agenda is to make Digital India success especially in rural areas. Down the line 4-5 years, expectation is to have internet connection to every village and have smart phone to every villager's, at least one phone out of one family. This leads me to think, why not to have a mobile apps, which act as a mentor to educate farmers on, on-demand and real time basis on all aspects w.r.t
1. Government policies with execution flow guide and escalation details.
2. Weather forecast with real time integration with forecast and geographical applications.
3. What to do in the situation which is caused by natural disasters.
4. Whom to contact in case of any type of help is needed.
5. How to take maximum benefits out of the government policies.
6. What action to take in case of some officials asking for bribe. Etc.
I am interested to hear your views and opinions. Please share your thoughts as comments or message me directly. more
It's been almost seven decades since India has got independence. It is true that farmers, majority of the country's population, are having low living standers and suffer a lot, due to many reasons. We hear a lot about farmer suicides on TV, newspapers and movies. If we ask anyone, other than a farmer, why it happens, we hear only one answer "Un-payable debt". But this is not 100% true. If we try to study village affairs, for e.g. just go and talk regularly to the same village man about two months. He won't give you true picture.
What is the specific problem or gap, and how does it get addressed ?
I know nothing about the ground reality but I assume that Indian farmers are very poor. This could be one of the major reason for suicides. But Indian farmers have more than their fair share of natural disasters, clueless government policy, rapacious moneylenders, etc. Below are the some of the problems which farmers are facing now.
1. Lack of government's intervention. The farmers' suicides are totally unnecessary and were in most cases, the result of man-made policies. It's not droughts and floods which forced farmers so much to take their lives, if government takes necessary action to educate or make them aware about their policies to take maximum benefits out of it.
2. Worse is the way our banks behave. Many of the banks refuse to give loans to farmers, unless say the Panchayat intervenes. Sometimes, the head of the Panchayat (Mukhiya/Sarpanch) colludes with the banks to ensure that people have to pay bribes to get loans, sometimes the bank officials ask for bribes on their own.
3. If farmers are not able to get loans from banks, then they go to moneylenders, who are generally the big landlords in most villages. They offer loan and charge high interest rate, it can be as high as 40-50% for the year.
4. Farmers depend mostly on rains for water, any changes in rain patterns lead to issues with crops, and in many cases the crop gets destroyed either due to lack of water or too much water.
What could be the solution ?
As current Modi government's one of the primary agenda is to make Digital India success especially in rural areas. Down the line 4-5 years, expectation is to have internet connection to every village and have smart phone to every villager's, at least one phone out of one family. This leads me to think, why not to have a mobile apps, which act as a mentor to educate farmers on, on-demand and real time basis on all aspects w.r.t
1. Government policies with execution flow guide and escalation details.
2. Weather forecast with real time integration with forecast and geographical applications.
3. What to do in the situation which is caused by natural disasters.
4. Whom to contact in case of any type of help is needed.
5. How to take maximum benefits out of the government policies.
6. What action to take in case of some officials asking for bribe. Etc.
I am interested to hear your views and opinions. Please share your thoughts as comments or message me directly. more
Viewed by 114
Devika.. This is totally unfortunate for our hard working farmers that they are getting too less price despite of doing such a hard work. May I know how much vegetables you are selling per day to retailers? more
Jan 21
Ravindra sir,.. I'am from Bangalore looking to get into agriculture. But in my past experience with all difficulty, if we manage to get good yield also we don't get reasonable amount. Is their any market where we can get reasonable amount for our hard work. Ex. Suppose market price is 50-60/kg for any vegetable, we get only rs. 5-10/kg. These is highly unfair. more
Jan 21
It is most unfortunate that the type of agriculture(in the unorganised sector in India) is not at all commercially feasible. Not realizing this more and more farmers are falling into the pit beacuse there is no guidance available for them at their place. It has taken our country more than 50 years to realize this simple fact. Inspite of having all kinds of infrastructure (created for assisting farmers in their activity, costing thousands of crores of rupees over the last 50 years or more), little has happened. If one estimates accurately the money spent on Research, Administration, Finance, Marketing, Infrastructure..etc related to agriculture over the last 50 years or more, any rational thinking person will be astounded by the huge amount involved. And what is the result? The majority of the farmers are still in square one, while all the others described above have been leading a lavish life. This is the Paradox in India. If there is any improvement it could be only an exception. Therefore, if a solution is required for the farmers, then the farmers themselves have to look for it, ofcourse with guidance from experts. In my last 25 years of involvement in agriculture, I find that many of the improvements are made by farmers by their own sheer committment and past experience. The future of Indian farmers is in their own hands! With regards, Ravindra Shenoy, Start Up Consultant. more
Jan 20
my concern is about their worth after crop disater by any reasons as their crop is not insured and what is the storage facility for small farmers. more
Jan 18
