- An National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) report states that the highest number of farmer (3,146 farmers) suicides in 2013 on the agrarian front was from Maharashtra.
- The State registered 640 less farm suicides than 2012
- 60,000 farmers have killed themselves in the State since 1995.
- The once epicentre of farmers’ suicide, the Vidarbha region, has recorded 942 suicides in 2013.
- Maharashtra, Marathwada (central Maharashtra) regions have witnessed higher number of suicides of farmers than Vidarbha in the recent years due to drought a year ago and heavy rains last year.
- Lack of proper irrigation facilities & faulty credit system are also causes for suicides.
- Expectations from the new government and its first budget:
- The government should give proper rate to cash crops and waive all the debts of the farmers.
- The Minimum Support Price (MSP) as per the formula given by Prime Minister Modi — cultivation plus investment plus 50 % profit — should be implemented in the budget and proper credit system put in place
- Read at: http://www.thehindu.com/
todays-paper/tp-international/ maharashtra-still-leads-in- farmer-suicides/ article6191184.ece
