Indians are killing themselves, while farmers are dying in Vidarbha

Palagummi Sainath of the Hindu has, over the years, brought attention to the problem of farmer suicides in India, particularly in Vidarbha. While it is true that in 2011 over 14000 farmers killed themselves in Maharashtra (data not available at a finer level) , this focus on farmer suicides masks the larger problem of suicide in India.

As you can see from the following graph, the suicide rate among non-farmers is an order of magnitude greater than the suicide rate among farmers.

Suicide data from http://ncrb.nic.in/CD-ADSI2011/table-2.11.pdf . Population data from Census 2011. Since occupation-wise population data is not yet available, we have assumed that 60% of the population of each state is engaged in agriculture.
Suicide data from http://ncrb.nic.in/CD-ADSI2011/table-2.11.pdf . Population data from Census 2011. Since occupation-wise population data is not yet available, we have assumed that 60% of the population of each state is engaged in agriculture.

2 thoughts on “Indians are killing themselves, while farmers are dying in Vidarbha”

  1. Totally rubbish post. Farmer suicides are recorded only among owners of the title of the land. The numbers are not even remotely close to 60% population. Among these, farmer suicides are flagged as a problem among small and marginal individual holdings owners. Not large, not institutions, etc.

    This article is based in utter ignorance and aims to trivialize farmer suicides that in my calculations are at least 3 times or so more than normal suicides. http://aamjanata.com/farmer-suicides-in-india-peddling-anti-farmer-bull-shit/

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  2. Pingback: Fudging farmer suicide statistics for fun and profitAamJanata

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