SOUMENART: A LAND OF THOUSAND TEARS

No one can hear my cry, no one cares to ask me the reason why. I keep crying till the day I just quit from this land of tears, just to save my family. My soul keeps searching till eternity for the reason of my tears. I saw happiness in few droplets and in small corners of my land. Till one day the Gods show no mercy on my land and I was torn apart from my beloved land.

This may be the tale of most of the Indian farmers, who are waging a war of survival with mother nature. With very few support from any establishment, they are left to fend for themselves. For how long their heart keeps beating and they keep tilling their lands, is a national mystery. With my series of drawings titled “A LAND OF THOUSAND TEARS” I tried to highlight the precarious situation of our farmers. I solemnly believe that some positive steps would be taken to salvage this heart wrenching, daily ordeal of our hardworking farmers.

By Soumen Bhowmick, 2015.

DON'T BOTHER, pencil on paper by Soumen Bhowmick 2015

NCRB claims 46 farmers commit suicide every day in India.

According to a report by the National Crime Records Bureau, as many as 16,632 farmers, including 2,369 women, killed themselves last year, constituting 14.4% of the total number of suicides in the country. More than 16,000 farmer suicides were reported across the country last year, representing a slight drop from 17,060 in 2006. But the broad trends of the past decade seem unshaken -- farmer suicides in the country since 1997 now total 182,936, according to a National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) report ‘Accidental Deaths and Suicide Report – 2007’.

PORTRAIT OF A FARMER, pencil and coffee on paper by Soumen Bhowmick 2015

UNBORN DREAM, graphite, charcoal and coffee on paper by Soumen Bhowmick 2015

Maharashtra retains the dubious distinction of reporting the largest number of suicides (4,238) -- for the third time in four years -- followed by Karnataka (2,135), Andhra Pradesh (1,797), Chhattisgarh (1,593), Madhya Pradesh (1,263), Kerala (1,263) and West Bengal (1,102). These states were in the top seven list in 2006 too. The five worst affected states -- Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh -- account for two-thirds of all such suicides -- 16,632 -- in the country. Together, they saw 11,026 suicides in 2007.

HOPE YOU REMEMBER ME, pencil on paper by Soumen Bhowmick 2015

Maharashtra alone accounted for over 38%, despite registering a fall of 215 compared with 2006 figures. Of the Big Five, Andhra Pradesh saw a decline of 810 suicides, while Karnataka saw a rise of 415 over the same period. Madhya Pradesh posted a decline of 112. But Chhattisgarh’s 1,593 reveals an increase of 110 over 2006. Maharashtra’s 4,238 farmer suicides follows one-and-a-half years of farm relief packages worth around Rs 5,000 crore and a prime ministerial visit in mid-2006 to the state’s distressed Vidarbha region. Between 2005 and 2007, Maharashtra also saw a plethora of official reports, studies, and commissions of inquiry aimed at tackling the problem.

BLOODY EYED, pencil on paper by Soumen Bhowmick 2015

Farmer suicides in Maharashtra touched an all-time high of 4,453 in 2006.

In 2006, a UN report ‘Extent of Chronic Hunger and Malnutrition’ criticised the Indian government for the rising number of farmer suicides. The report said that economic growth through the 1990s had made India a more market-oriented economy, but had failed to benefit all Indians equally. In March 2008, Finance Minister P Chidambaram announced a loan write-off for small and marginal farmers and made provision for Rs 60,000 crore; the amount was later increased to Rs 71,000 crore. Experts say this still leaves out farmers’ debts to private moneylenders. And, like numerous other state-sponsored programmes, the debt relief scheme is poorly implemented and reveals huge gaps in formal banking channels in rural India. Last month, in a bid to mitigate severe farmer distress in several states, the central government decided to provide additional financial support of around Rs 765 crore to implement programmes in suicide-prone districts, as suggested by leading scientist M S Swaminathan.

The decision, taken by Cabinet at a meeting chaired by Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, includes financial support of Rs 361.55 crore to promote research in rubber, coffee, cardamom, pepper and tea. The government had, in 2006, identified 36 districts in several states like Kerala, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka, for which it had decided to put a special plan of action in place. One of the most disquieting facts about farmer suicides in India has been their widespread occurrence, from drought-prone Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Maharashtra to heavy-rainfall states like Kerala, and also Punjab which has large areas under irrigation.

Source: PTI, December 14, 2008

[I]The Hindu[/I], December 12, 2008

[I]The Indian Express[/I], December 10, 2008

PTI, November 20, 2008, http://www.mainstreamweekly.net, June 21, 2008

ON A BED OF TEARS, pencil on paper by Soumen Bhowmick 2015

Nearly 2 Lakh farm suicides since 1997

There were at least 16,196 farmer suicides in India in 2008, bringing the total since 1997 to 199,132, according to the National Crime Records Bureau.

Maharashtra remains the worst state in the country for farm suicides, with a total of 3,802 (this is just 40 short of the combined total of Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka). The all-India total of 16,196 represents a fall of 436 from 2007. But the broad trend of the past decade reflects no significant change; the national average for farm suicides since 2003 stays at roughly 1 every 30 minutes. The share of the Big 5 states, or ‘suicide belt’, in 2008 -- Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh -- remained extremely high at 10,797, or 66.6% of the total number of farm suicides in the country. This was marginally higher than it was in 2007 (66.2%)

A LAND OF THOUSAND TEARS, pencil on paper by Soumen Bhowmick 2015

Within the Big 5, Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh recorded higher numbers. The increase of 604 in these three states somewhat offsets the dip in Maharashtra (436) and Karnataka (398). But a drop in suicide numbers in other states (for example, a decline of 412 in Kerala and 343 in West Bengal) means that the Big 5 marginally increased their two-thirds share of total farm suicides in 2008.

The National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) data now covers all states for 12 years, from 1997. In the first six years (1997-2002), the Big 5 witnessed 55,769 farmer suicides. From 2003 to 2008, they totaled 67,054, an average rise of nearly 1,900 a year.

MY BELOVED VILLAGE, pencil on paper by Soumen Bhowmick 2015

Maharashtra has logged 41,404 farm suicides from 1997 (over a fifth of the national total) and 44,468 from 1995, the year when the state began recording farm data. No other state comes close. During 1997-2002, Maharashtra saw, on average, eight farmers kill themselves every day. The corresponding figure rose to 11 during 2003-2008. The rise was from an average of 2,833 farm suicides a year in the first period, to an average of 4,067 in the next period.

Professor K Nagaraj, an economist who has worked at the Madras Institute of Development Studies, says of the NCRB data: “There is hardly any decline in the suicide belt, though individual states may show variations across 12 years. If this is the state for 2008, the year of the Rs 70,000 crore loan waiver and multiple farm packages, then 2009, a drought year, could show very disturbing figures. The underlying agrarian problems seem as acute as ever.”

Source: [I]The Hindu[/I], January 22, 2010.

MY TEARS FOR YOUR FIELD, pencil on paper by Soumen Bhowmick 2015

17,000 farmers committed suicide in 2009: NCRB

The number of suicides by farmers continues to rise countrywide with Maharashtra topping the list for the tenth consecutive year. Even as food prices soar, farmers in India do not seem to be profiting. The National Crime Record Bureau’s most recent figures reveal that more than 17,000 farmers committed suicide in 2009, the worst year since 2004.

That takes the total number of recorded farmer suicides since 1997 (when all states had to compulsorily record farm suicides) to 216,500.

NOWHERE TO BURY THE PAIN, pencil on paper by Soumen Bhowmick 2015

Maharashtra, the country’s second most industrialised state and the home state of the country’s agriculture minister, Sharad Pawar, recorded the highest number of farmer suicides for the tenth consecutive year. P Sainath, rural affairs editor of [I]The Hindu[/I], who has been relentlessly pursuing the subject of agrarian neglect and distress, says that if the numbers from 1995 to 1997 as well as 2010 are taken into account, the total number of farmer suicides would be even more shocking.

“The numbers are from the annual report of the Government of India’s own National Crime Records Bureau. Their yearly total for farmer suicide from 1995 to 2009 brings us to a total of 240,000. Even if we assume that 2010 saw far fewer suicides than the average of the last decade, it still takes the figure past 250,000 or a quarter of a million farmer suicides,” Sainath says.

LAND OF HEADS, pencil on paper by Soumen Bhowmick 2015

The worst affected states are Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh. These account for two-thirds of all farmer suicides during 2003-08. Since the issue of farmers committing suicide surfaced, governments both at the centre and state have announced all sorts of ‘packages’ to help relieve the situation. But throwing money at the tragedy has clearly not stopped it from occurring. In 2008, the government declared that farm loans over a certain amount would be waived. There were 16,196 farmer suicides in the country that year, just 436 less than in 2007 (NCRB figures).

FEAR TO WALK, pencil on paper by Soumen Bhowmick 2015

Maharashtra got Rs 3,750 crore from the Prime Minister’s Relief Package in 2006 for six crisis-ridden districts. This was followed by the chief minister’s relief package of Rs 1,075 crore. Nearly Rs 9,000 crore was waived in farm loans as part of the Rs 70,000-crore central loan waiver; the state government added another Rs 6,200 crore for those farmers not covered by the waiver and another Rs 500 crore for a one-time settlement for poor farmers who had been excluded from the waiver altogether because they owned more than five acres of land.

THE HAND THAT FEEDS, pencil on paper by Soumen Bhowmick 2015

Writing in [I]The Hindu[/I] (January 25, 2010), Sainath points out that, in all, the amounts committed to fighting the agrarian crisis in Maharashtra exceeded Rs 20,000 crore across 2006, 2007 and 2008. ‘Yet, that proved to be the worst three-year period ever for any state at any time since the recording of farm data began.’ There were 12,493 farmer suicides in 2006-08, 85% higher than the 6,745 suicides it recorded during 1997-1999, ‘and the worst three-year period for any state, any time’.

IT FELL ON THE GROUND, pencil on paper by Soumen Bhowmick 2015

It is generally accepted that indebtedness of farmers trying to survive on an income that is clearly inadequate is driving them to suicide. The government is reluctant to admit that its entire agrarian policy is at fault and instead seizes on isolated causes such as high interest rates charged by moneylenders, extravagant family wedding expenses, and crop failure due to the weather to explain the phenomenon.

IN THE SHADOW OF DEATH, pencil and coffee on paper by Soumen Bhowmick 2015

Sainath writes that while the loan waiver and other financial aid were necessary, they have been wrongly structured. For example, only those who had taken loans from institutions like banks were eligible for the waiver though many farmers take loans from moneylenders. Kerala, where all farmers have bank accounts, profited. Again, the 2008 waiver was only for those with less than five acres of land, which left indebted farmers with more land out in the cold.

BLOODY ROOTI, graphite, coffee and natural colours on paper by Soumen Bhowmick 2015

SEE NO TEARS, pencil on paper by Soumen Bhowmick 2015

Analysis by economist Professor K Nagaraj of the Madras Institute of Development Studies, who has worked intensively on farmer suicide data, shows that the suicides appear concentrated in regions where there is high commercialisation of agriculture and very high peasant debt. Cash-crop farmers appeared far more vulnerable to suicide than those growing food crops. Whatever the pros and cons of the loan waiver, ‘the basic underlying causes of the crisis remained untouched’ writes Sainath. He identifies these as ‘the predatory commercialisation of the countryside; a massive decline in investment in agriculture; the withdrawal of bank credit at a time of soaring input prices; the crash in farm incomes combined with an explosion of cultivation costs; the shifting of millions from food crop to cash crop cultivation with all its risks; the corporate hijack of every major sector of agriculture including, and especially, seeds; growing water stress and moves towards privatisation of that resource’.

AMONG THE GRAINS, pencil and coffee on paper by Soumen Bhowmick 2015

SCREAM IT LOUD, pencil on paper by Soumen Bhowmick 2015

[*]In 1947, the share of agriculture in total GDP was 50%. Today it is about 20%. [/*]

[*]60% of India’s population depends on agriculture for their survival. [/*]

[*]In 1988-89 (prior to financial sector reforms), the growth rate in agriculture was 15.4%. In 2006-07, it was 9.4%.[/*]

[*]80% of farmland holdings is under five acres. [/*]

[*]The cost of production by way of farm inputs has increased manifold over the years while land productivity remained the same and the sale price of farm produce has not increased commensurately. The smaller the landholding, the higher the cost of production.[/*]

[I](Source: A paper on farmer suicides in Maharashtra by NABARD)[/I]