New Delhi:Over 23,000 farmer have died by suicide in the county from 2017 to 2021, Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar informed Rajya Sabha on Friday. The Union Minister shared the statistics referring to NCRB data.
As per the data shared the minister as many as 5955 farmers died by suicide in 2017, 5763 in 2018, 5957 in 2019, 5579 in 2020 and 5318 in 2021. The total number of suicide by framers in the period stands at 28,572.
The data further revealed that every year from 2017 to 2021, Maharashtra and Karnataka earned the dubious distinction of respectively occupying the first and second spot in the country in terms of farmers' suicide.
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While Maharashtra recoded 2426 suicide cases by farmers in 2017, it was followed by Karnataka with 1157 such cases. Similarly in 2018 Maharashtra recorded 2239 suicides by farmers followed by Karnataka with 1365 such cases occupying the second spot.
In the following year Maharashtra again occupied the top slot with 2680 such cases, followed by Karnataka with 1331 farmers dying by suicide. As for 2020, as many as 2567 framers died by suicide in Maharashtra putting in on top of the chart followed by Karnataka with 1072 such cases. In 2021 Maharashtra was again on top with 2640 such cases followed by Karnataka 1170 such cases.
The Minister stated that several measures including enhancement in budget allocation, income support to farmers through PM KISAN scheme, Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana and ensuring institutional credit for agriculture sector have been taken by the Union Government.
