Achche din? 26 per cent rise in farmers' suicide in 2014

New Delhi: The number of suicide cases by farmers due to agrarian reasons have increased by 26 per cent to 1,109 in 2014, with majority of deaths reported from Maharashtra, Parliament was informed on Tuesday.

Out of 1,109 cases, 986 were reported from Maharashtra, 84 from Telangana and 29 from Jharkhand, reported PTI. In 2013, 879 farmers had committed suicide, and in 2012 the cases of farmer suicides were 1,046, according to a data shared by the Minister of State for Agriculture Mohanbhai Kundaria in a written reply to the Lok Sabha.

"Reasons of suicide by farmers as reported by state governments, are manifold which inter-alia, include crop failure, indebtedness, drought, socio-economic and personal reasons," Kundaria said.

The minister also added that agriculture is a state subject, and therefore the state governments take appropriate measures for development of the agriculture sector and welfare of farmers.

In another reply, the minister informed Parliament that the total number of agricultural workers in the country have increased by 12.38 per cent to 263.1 million in 2011.

"...the total number of agricultural workers in the country, comprising of cultivators and agricultural labourers, have increased from 234.1 million in 2001 to 263.1 million in 2011," Kundaria said.

The Minister also added that to promote agriculture sector, Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) has strengthened, re-structured and prioritised research and development programmes in rice, wheat, maize, millets, fodder crops, oilseeds, pulses, sugarcane, cotton, fiber and horticultural crops through research institutes.