And suicide does not pay

On July 14, Pramod Tembekar, a farmer from Selu taluka in Wardha district, consumed insecticide and died.

His family is entitled to Rs 1 lakh as compensation from Chief Minister's relief fund. But the local administration has not referred his case. It claims that Tembekar was ill and killed himself because he was tired of being sick.

Suicides are an almost daily affair in the Vidarbha region now. Since January 1, 2004, Wardha alone has officially registered 17 suicides by farmers. But none of the relatives of the 11 farmers who committed suicide between January 1, 2004 and 31 March 2004 has received any government compensation. After April 1, another six farmers too committed suicide.

Wardha's district collector S Chokalingam said: "Six agriculturists committed suicide since April this year. Of these, three were agriculturists who took the extreme step after being pressured by financial institutions and money lenders for recovery of loans."

The Maharashtra government's policy on compensation stipulates that the agriculturist, who commits suicide has to be a farmer in debt, who is being hounded by creditors. Even if these criteria is applicable, as in Tembekar's case, his illness just eliminated him from the possibility of his family getting the aid after his death.

Take the case of 70-year-old Basurao Sitaram Bhusari from Saloud village. Bhusari committed suicide on March 17, 2004. A copy of a government document, which Business Standard obtained, shows that Bhusari was a farmer in debt. But in the column where it is asked whether he was being pestered by his creditors for repayment, the official reply was that he was not facing any such pressures. The local administration concludes: "The deceased was having debts. But it is not established that he was being hounded for this by his creditors.....While he consumed poison, it is not clear what motivated him to commit suicide."

This has ensured that Bhusari's next of kin get no compensation. Visit Saloud village and Bhusari's 15-year-old grandson Snehal, a 10th standard student at the local Nehru school, is disinclined to speak of his grandfather's demise. His grandmother now stays with one of her three sons.

Says daily wage worker and Saloud village resident Deepak Mhaske: "Only 15 days before his death, Rural Land Development Bank (RLDB) officials paid Bhusari a visit. He also owed the local 'sahukar' money. The RLDB officials told him that they would issue a warrant for his arrest. None of his sons could bail him out as they themselves are in debt."

Similarly, Baburao Sitaram Chowdhary, 65, a backward caste mali like Bhusari, also committed suicide at Saloud village on March 18, 2004. Just like Bhusari, his next of kin has been denied compensation. The local state administration says: "Since he lost the case regarding his agricultural land, he resorted to drinking and in an inebriated state he consumed insecticide and committed suicide."