Loans not only reason for farmer suicides: RBI governor

Hyderabad: Calling farmer suicides in the country a tragic phenomenon, RBI governor Raghuram Rajan on Monday said “a variety of complex factors” were at work and people in some states showed more propensity to end their lives compared to those in other states.

“This is an important and tragic phenomenon. And we have to not only understand it better but take whatever action we can. Suicide is always a very complex phenomenon. People don’t always obviously do it lightly. And often there are always a variety of complex factors that lead to it. There is also difference across states in India, studies show, in the propensity to suicide. It is not necessary that the states that have most indebtedness (are the ones where) you see more suicides. There are certain states where this (tendency) is more prevalent,” Dr Rajan said duing an interactive session at the National Institute of Rural Development and Panchayati Raj.

While Dr Rajan said that there is a need to make farmers’ access to institutional credit easier, he cautioned that overlending should be avoided. “....So we have to work on all fronts. It is not just an issue of debt, it is an issue of livelihoods; it is not just an isssue of economics, it is also an issue of culture,” he explained.

According to the latest publicly available data on farmer suicides (2012), Maharashtra tops in the list with 3,786 deaths, followed by united Andhra Pradesh with 2,572 deaths, Karnataka with 1,875, Madhya Pradesh 1,172 and Kerala 1,081.

While Dr Rajan talks about other factors, psychologists claim that loans are not be the only reason for suicide and most of the other factors that lead to suicide are directly related to loans.

Psychologist Pragya Reshmi says: “Typically for a person, economic responsibility percolates to emotional responsibility. So it may not be just loans that drive suicides. But the factors could be wife shouting at him for financial distress or his inability to provide his children good education or other social factors caused by financial distress — all of which are related to indebtness.”

Reacting to the RBI governor’s comments, Vijay Jawandhia, one of the leading farm activists in Vidarbha, challenged Dr Rajan to take up farming by himself and show them how to make money.

“Dr Rajan is wrong. Maybe there are various reasons for suicides, but the major factor is indebtedness and agriculture is not remunerative. “I would like Dr Rajan should come to Varda, instead of going to the United States, and take 64 acres — which is the highest any individual can own in India — and show how a farmer can live as a collector. I will salute him.”