Farmers’ Suicides in India: Impact on Women

"Thousands of farmers have committed suicides in India in general and Andhra Pradesh in the past ten years is known and seen by media, policy-makers, researchers and social workers. Now a days, seeds, fertilizers and pesticide dealers are at the centre of growing controversy in India and Andhra Pradesh, as they are the new money lenders to a peasantry strapped for credit. In order to get rid of their financial crisis ill-treatment and harassment by the money lenders, the poor farmers have committed suicides as there is nobody to hear their last cry. For many in Andhra Pradesh’s Agrarian crisis, even death is not the end of the trouble. Instead it is the beginning of a new burden for the surviving women such as mothers, wives and daughters of the suicide committing farmers. To begin with, they were doing the bulk of the work. Now they have to face the banks and the money lenders. They have to bring up the children and send them to schools. Raising and spending money for the needs of the households becomes their job. And on top of it all, they have to run the farm. Sometimes, the pressure becomes too much. In this struggle against poverty and sudden death (suicides) by their male members in the family, the stress on the widows is enormous. In this context, the literature on farmers’ suicides is available to some extent, but no study has been taken up so far on the impact of the suicides’ farmers on women. Hence as an issue of major policy concern, it commands high reason priority."