Daijiworld Media Network - Bengaluru (RJP)

Bengaluru, Jul 16: No matter what the politicians say about stopping the suicides of farmers in the state, they have completely failed in doing so.

With as many as 9 persons taking the extreme step on Wednesday, the total farmers death toll in the past 23 days has reached 73. The figure is alarming and worrying.


Why is it happening?

There is no clear answer to this question yet. Various reasons have been cited by people depending on their political affiliations without looking into the problem impartially. The centre blames state and the state blames the centre. BJP accuses the Congress and vice versa. JD(S) also says many things. But the deaths continue.

V S Ugrappa from Congress even went to the extent of saying on in the legislative council that there were instances where farmers committed suicide for the sake of compensation.

"There has been a dramatic rise in the number of suicides during the time of the legislature session. However, nobody is trying to establish the veracity of these deaths, and all of them are being termed as suicides," Ugrappa had said.

Quoting experts, he had said that a majority of suicides (13.79%) pertained to liquor-related problems and other behavioural factors. While 11.8 pc of suicides were due to chronic illnesses, 12.32 pc suicides were due to economic factors/indebtedness. (As on Tuesday July 14).

The house is burning. Extinguish the fire first, then look for reasons. Farmer deaths in the state need to be stopped. Now.