In one year, 42,480 farmers committed suicide, with Bihar accounting for the highest 45 per cent

- Not a single suicide has occurred in some states

New Delhi, 2 September 2020, Wednesday

Shocking figures of suicides committed by farmers and workers in India were revealed. According to figures released by the National Crime Records Bureau, 42,480 farmers and workers lost their lives in 2019. Of these, 45 per cent farmers-workers were from Bihar alone, i.e. 45 per cent of the total suicides were in Bihar alone.

According to the report, the number of farmers 'suicides in 2019 was lower than the number of suicides in 2018, but the number of workers' suicides was lower. In 2018, 10,357 farmers shortened their lifestyles. In comparison, 10,281 farmers committed suicide in 2019. Thus the incidence of farmer suicides was slightly reduced. Conversely, worker suicides increased in 2019 compared to 2018. The number of worker suicides in 2018 was 30,132 which increased to 32,559 in 2019, which means that more workers committed suicide in 2019 than in the previous year.

The report further states that about 7.5 per cent of the total suicides in the country were related to agriculture. In 2018, a total of 1 lakh 34 thousand 516 people committed suicide in India. This figure increased to 1 lakh 39 thousand 123 in 2019. The number of suicides associated with agriculture in 2018 included 3,749 men and 575 women. In 2019, there were 5,563 men and 294 women.

According to the report, not a single farmer or farm laborer committed suicide in West Bengal, Orissa, Bihar, Uttarakhand, Manipur, Chandigarh, Diu-Daman, Delhi, Lakshadweep and Puducherry. On the other hand, the number of suicides increased by Bihar (44.7 per cent), Punjab (37.5 per cent), Jharkhand (25 per cent), Uttarakhand (22.6 per cent) and Andhra Pradesh (21.5 per cent).