Agrarian suicides in India: Myth and reality

Motivation Farmer suicides in India have been intensely debated since the economic reforms of the early 1990s. A closer look at the statistics, however, suggests that singling out farmer suicides may miss the point, because other professions have higher rates of suicide. Purpose This article aims to set farmer suicides in context, by comparing rates of these against suicide rates for other occupations and groups, between 1995 and 2015, and across 17 states of India. Approach and methods The term “agrarian suicides” is preferred to “farmer suicides,” because the reported data include deaths of agricultural labourers as well as farmers. Commonly quoted statistics on suicide across population groups are not commensurate: agrarian suicides are reported per person employed, while for other professions rates are reported against all people in households with that profession. This article corrects this by reporting rates per person employed. Findings One, the rate of suicide among the agrarian group is less than that among several other professions, including self‐employed and service (private). Two, while the rates of suicide have been rising for most other groups since the mid‐1990s, the rate for agrarian suicides has been falling since the early 2000s. Three, a large majority, 87%, of agrarian suicides occur in just eight states, mainly in central and southern India. Four, problems with farming are not among the most common stated reasons for agrarian suicides; rather, personal, family and other problems dominate. Policy implications India needs to encourage responsible reporting of and discussion about agrarian suicides. It would be appropriate to design and implement state‐ and region‐specific suicide prevention strategies. Priority policies should address a public health crisis, rather than pin the blame on agricultural policy, conditions, or technical changes in farming.