Farmer suicides on rise in India
Pastor Dale Morgan
Farmer suicides on rise in India*
Published: May 5, 2008 at 7:09 AM
MUMBAI, May 5 (UPI) -- Suicides by debt-ridden farmers in India's
Maharashtra state show no signs of abating despite several relief
measures, a government report says.
The suicide rate in the western state, of which Mumbai (formerly Bombay)
is the capital, has actually gone up in recent years, the BBC said,
quoting the report, which blamed poor implementation of the relief
measures and lack of coordination among government agencies.
The farmers resort to suicides because they are unable to repay money
borrowed on high interest from unscrupulous lenders, officials said.
After a special relief package was announced in 2006 for a region in the
state where the suicide problem is the worst, records show deaths there
rose to 1,414 between April 2006 and March 2007.
The government report said nearly 75 percent of the farmers were unaware
of a "ban on illegal money lending" and continued to pay high interest
rates even after the debts had been declared illegal, the BBC said.