A National Crisis: The Helplessness of Farmers

If you were asked what the most important issue facing our country is, what would you say? For some, it might be the Hindu-Muslim conflict. For others, it could be caste-based reservations for OBCs, Marathas, Patels, Jats, or Dhangars. Some might point to border security, while others might focus on global conflicts like Gaza-Israel, Russia-Ukraine, or India-Pakistan. Some may worry about petrol shortages or the water crisis. Many are concerned about environmental pollution or believe the Constitution is in danger. People protest against atrocities against women, worry about unemployment and inflation, or are still fearful of the next pandemic. The list of concerns is long and valid. But amid all this, how many people would say that farmer suicides are the nation's most critical issue? It’s not that the issues listed above are unimportant. They are. But why do we turn a blind eye to farmer suicides? It is like meticulously repairing the railway compartments while leaving the engine completely broken.

A Grim Reality

Over the last few decades, nearly four to five hundred thousand farmers in this country have been forced to take their own lives. In no other country in the world have so many people from a single profession committed suicide. No pandemic has killed so many people so consistently. No great war has seen this many casualties. Every day, 40 to 50 farmers die by suicide in India, with 6 to 8 of them in Maharashtra alone. How can we ignore this horrific reality? The world is balanced on two hands: one of a woman, and the other of a farmer. If all the farmers in the world vanished, what would we eat? You cannot fill your stomach with stones or steel; you need food. And it is the farmer who grows that food. A world without farmers is unimaginable. Yet, the very person who is essential for human survival is taking his own life, and we don't consider his suffering important. We must ask ourselves whether this is callousness or a form of national self-destruction.

When Did Farmer Suicides Begin?

A false narrative, peddled by many prominent intellectuals from both the left and the right, claims that "farmer suicides began in the 1990s" due to liberalization and globalization. This is a desperate attempt to fit the tragedy into their preferred ideological framework. But truth remains the truth. A sun hidden behind the clouds has not set. Farmer suicides have been happening consistently in our country for a long time. It was only after the 1990s that the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) started documenting them as a separate category. Some naive individuals believe this is when the suicides began. However, records of farmer suicides exist from long before that. On March 19, 1986, Sahebrao Karpe and his family from Yavatmal district committed mass suicide near Wardha. (To this day, the Kisanputra Movement observes a fast on March 19th in their memory). At that time, liberalization was nowhere on the horizon. There are even older references, such as the ones below, which also link suicides to the size of land holdings and, notably for leftist intellectuals, include references to suicides in Bengal.

Ganapathi and Venkoba Rao analyzed suicides in parts of Tamil Nadu in 1966. They recommended that the distribution of agricultural organophosphorus compounds be restricted.<25>

Similarly, Nandi et al. in 1979 noted the role of freely available agricultural insecticides in suicides in rural West Bengal and suggested that their availability be regulated.<26>

Hegde studied rural suicides in villages of northern Karnataka over 1962 to 1970 and stated the suicide incidence rate to be 5.7 per 100,000 population.<27>

Reddy, in 1993, reviewed high rates of farmer suicides in Andhra Pradesh and its relationship to farming size and productivity.<28>

The Root Cause

These are not random, individual suicides; they are suicides within a single profession. Comparing them to other types of suicide is a mistake. While other suicides might have psychological roots, and we might have looked for such causes if only a few farmers had died, the sheer scale of lakhs of deaths forces us to admit that the cause is not psychological but systemic. The reasons lie within the conditions imposed upon farmers. Frankly, the mentality of those who search for psychological reasons should be examined. It's a clever tactic of victim-blaming. These are the same people who, when a girl is raped, say, "She is of that sort," "She wears such clothes," or "Why did she go there?" They never blame the rapist. The same logic is applied to farmers: "They drink," "They spend beyond their means." Even the word 'suicide' (Atma-hatya: self-murder) is used cleverly, as if no one else is responsible. The reality is that these are

systematically engineered deaths, planned by the government.

But no one has the courage to say that the government, not the farmer, is responsible. The root cause of farmer suicides is the very structure of the system—a structure that was deliberately designed. When we begin to examine this structure, the issue becomes crystal clear.

What is the Definition of a 'Farmer'?

How do we define a farmer? Loosely, one who farms. By that logic, who is an industrialist? Someone who works in a factory? No, we call that person a worker. The owner of the factory is the industrialist, even though he doesn't operate the machines himself. So shouldn't the owner of the farm be called a farmer? Is the definition "one who holds a 7/12 land extract" correct? Think of any major politician. Do we call them a farmer or a politician? In my area, there is an R.T.O. (Regional Transport Officer) who owns agricultural land, but everyone knows him as the R.T.O. Many salaried professionals own land. Can they be called farmers? Here is my definition:

A farmer is a person whose primary source of income is agriculture.

It doesn't matter if you work the land yourself or not, or whether you own a 7/12 extract. If your livelihood depends on farming, you are a farmer. This misunderstanding—conflating politicians and government officers with real farmers—causes the genuine problems of actual farmers to be ignored. Today, 85% of India's farmers hold less than two acres of land (2011 data; it's even less now). With no capital and just two acres of dry land, what crop can a farmer grow to earn a net annual income of ₹2.25 lakhs? This figure is what the 7th Pay Commission determined is necessary for a Class-IV government employee to "live like a human being." Try farming on two acres of non-irrigated land. You will realize that no matter how good the harvest or the price, it is impossible to support a family. This is why farmers are dying. About 95% of the farmers who commit suicide have no other source of income and own around two acres of land.

The Laws That Kill Farmers

No capital, no alternative business options, and minuscule land holdings—this is the reality for the majority of farmers who take their lives. But how did they reach this breaking point?

• The 9th Schedule: India became independent on August 15, 1947. The Constitution came into effect on January 26, 1950. The very first amendment was made just a year and a half later, on June 18, 1951. This amendment created the 9th Schedule, a provision not originally in the Constitution. It stipulated that any law placed in this schedule could not be challenged in court. Prime Minister Nehru assured Parliament that this would only be for the first 13 laws. By the end of his term in 1964, there were 60 laws in it. Today, there are 284, and it is no coincidence that around 250 of them are related to agriculture. This provision, which barred farmers from seeking justice, became a death sentence.

• The Land Ceiling Act (1960): This law imposed a limit on how much land a farmer could own (e.g., 54, 28, or 8 acres depending on the land type). However, there was no such limit on how much property an industrialist could own. This discriminatory law violated the fundamental right to property. Because it was in the 9th Schedule, it remained in force. It prevented the formation of large-scale agricultural companies, which are common in developed nations, and left Indian farmers unable to compete globally. Instead, it led to the endless fragmentation of land, shrinking holdings down to two acres.

• The Essential Commodities Act (1955): This law, a relic of the British era, violates the fundamental right to freedom of trade. It gives the government sweeping powers to control the production, transport, storage, and, most importantly, the price of any commodity it deems "essential." Successive governments used this law to consistently suppress the prices of agricultural produce. This drove farmers into ruin, leaving them with no savings to withstand any crisis. The law also stifled rural industrialization and value addition, robbing farmers' children of employment opportunities. It created the "License, Permit, Kota Raj" and is considered the mother of administrative corruption in India.

• The Land Acquisition Act: This law hangs like a sword over every farmer. The government has used it to acquire millions of acres of farmland, often for pennies on the dollar, and hand it over to private corporations, leading to massive corruption.

These three laws created a system—a trap. Farmers were caught in it, and that is why they are forced to take their lives. The farmer's problem is not poverty;

it is slavery.

This enslavement has not only destroyed the farmer but has also had disastrous consequences for the nation. The decay we see in various sectors is a direct result of these laws. When poverty is rampant, identities related to caste and religion become more pronounced. Money dominates elections, which brings criminality into politics. The day we understand that our education and healthcare systems are failing because we have enslaved our farmers, we will realize that farmer suicide is the central, defining issue of our time. The farmer is not just another compartment in this nation's train;

he is the engine.

That is why we must urgently address farmer suicides. This is not just a farmer's problem; it is a national catastrophe.

Amar Habib,

Kisanputra (Farmer's Son) Movement Ambajogai 8411909909