Another farmer apparently upset at damage of crops and unpaid loans and dues like electricity bill, committed suicide on his farm in Niwari district of Madhya Pradesh.
This is the third suicide by a farmer in three days in Madhya Pradesh. During past two days, two farmers had committed suicide in Sehore district of MP—the home district of Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan.
Officials at Prithvipur police station in Niwari confirmed to THE WEEK that Pyarelal Yadav, 60, hanged himself on his farm in Chandeli Toria village on Friday morning. Head constable Jaipal Singh said that the son of the deceased, Rup Singh Yadav had said in his statement that his father was upset due to crop damage due to poor rainfall in the area.
The cop, however, said that Rup Singh did not mention anything about loans or dues. However, local sources said that the kin of the deceased farmer, including his brother and nephew, had said that Pyarelal was upset for several days due to crop damage, unpaid electricity bill worth Rs 60,000, bank loan and loan from private moneylenders who were allegedly hounding him.
Madhya Pradesh had reported 541 farm suicides in 2019 of the total 10,281 such suicides across the country, according to the Accidental Deaths and Suicides in India (ADSI) report of the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB).
In 2018, the farm suicides in MP were at 655—6.3 per cent of the total 10,349 in the country while in 2017, the state had reported 955 (8.9 per cent) of the total 10,655 farm suicides in the country, according to NCRB reports.
The MP Congress has attacked the BJP government and Chouhan over the latest suicide. In a tweet, MP Congress said that farmers’ suicides have started as soon as Chouhan’s government has been formed.
Politics has been simmering over suicides by two farmers in Sehore district. CM Chouhan had attacked ex-CM Kamal Nath who had flagged the first suicide in Sehore (of Babulal Verma on Wednesday) as due to crop damage and farm loans. The CM had said quoting the son of the farmer that Babulal was ailing, had undergone surgeries and was mentally unstable.
However, another suicide in the same district was reported on Thursday and now, with third suicide reported in three days, the opposition Congress has sharpened its attack against the BJP government in the state.
Meanwhile, Chouhan visited the flood- and rain-hit villages in Raisen district on Friday, to survey the damaged crop and interacted with the affected farmers and people. He reiterated that the government will provide all possible relief and compensation to those suffering losses.
Chouhan, who has been touring in such areas over the past five days, said that while the Congress is accusing him of 'flood tourism', he wanted to say that the ex-CM (Kamal Nath) never left his office to look at the ground situation. But he (Chouhan) was always with the people and will ensure relief to them.
