Another farmer commits suicide, ninth in nine days

A 45-year old debt-ridden farmer hanged himself from a tree in Madhya Pradesh’s Shivpuri district, police said on Friday, the ninth such suicide in nine days in a state rocked by violent farm protests.

Kalla Kevat, a resident of village Bineka in Shivpuri district, was depressed because of backto-back crop failures and a mounting loan burden, police said. He killed himself on Thursday. “We have just 2.75 bigha land. This year, we don’t have money to purchase seed and fertilizer and my father was in stress but we didn’t know that the he would take such a drastic step,” said his son Pool Singh Kevat.

The snowballing farm distress in Madhya Pradesh grabbed national headlines on June 6, when five farmers died in police firing during demonstrations to demand a loan waiver and better crop prices. Since then, nine deaths have been reported from the state as angry farmers have torched vehicles and ransacked property. The government has struggled to contain the acute agricultural crisis, despite assurances from the chief minister and promises of a partial loan waiver.

Farmers say they are caught in a cycle of plummeting crop prices, a demonetisation-induced cash crunch and exploitative middlemen.

His family said they didn’t have the money to perform his last rites and contributions from villagers helped them.

We don’t have money to purchase seed and fertilizer and my father was in stress but we didn’t know that he would take such a drastic step POOL SINGH KEVAT, deceased’s son