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.
