A total of 1,267 farmers have committed suicide in Maharashtra in the first six months of this year, with Amravati division in the state’s Vidarbha region accounting for 557 deaths.
As per January to June data in a state government report, Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar division was second with 430 deaths, followed by 137 in Nashik division, 130 in Nagpur division and 13 in Pune division. No death was reported in the coastal Konkan division.
According to the National Crime Records Bureau, in 2022, Maharashtra led with 37.6 per cent of all farmer suicides in the country. The NCRB said 11,290 persons involved in the farming sector, comprising 5,207 farmers or cultivators and 6,083 agricultural labourers, ended their lives in 2022. This accounted for 6.6 per cent of all suicides in the country, which stood at 1,70,924.
In 2021, 10,881 persons involved in farming, comprising 5,318 farmers and 5,563 agricultural labourers, committed suicide, with Maharashtra accounting for 37.3 per cent of these deaths.
As per NCRB data, a total of 1,64,033 persons committed suicide in 2021 and those connected to farming comprised 6.6 per cent. In 2020, a total of 10,677 individuals in the farming sector (5,579 farmers or cultivators and 5,098 agricultural labourers) died by suicide, which was 7 per cent of the 1,53,052 such deaths nationwide.
Maharashtra accounted for 37.5 per cent of the deaths in 2020. Incidentally, Maharashtra is also the highest contributor in the country’s GDP.