Farmers and Numbers: Part III

To paraphrase Joseph Stalin, it does not matter how many farmers
commit suicide. It only matters who counts the deadbodies.

Recent reports suggest that not only did the farmer package not stop suicides, they may have spurred even more deaths.

'Interestingly, the prime minister's visit along with the agriculture minister to the Vidarbha region of Maharashtra on June 30, 2006 was followed by an increase in the number of suicides in the region. Over 150 suicides occurred between July 2 and August 21,' the report says. [link]

This, in a good crop year.

Note that the Vidarbha farmer suicide issue reached a crescendo of coverage in the newspapers during the PM visit. The package was widely publicized. Perhaps a section of the media truly believed that the package would help.

We noted earlier that the marginal utility of these packages may have long been exhausted to the point that moral hazard is now kicking in.

According to a CNN-IBN report:

Farmers in the killing fields of Vidarbha live on credits and die in installments. As many as 1,338 farmer have ended their lives till date. On Friday, when Prime Minister Manmohan Singh visited the region and announced a new package, Vidharba was still grappling with the dark reality of farmer suicide.

The 3,750-crore- rupee package announced by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for cotton farmers in Vidharba hasn't touched many lives like that of 64-year-old Bhavrao Ingole, 74-year-old Sukdev Meshram and 26-year-old Sunita Lasankute.

Bhavrao received a cheque of a paltry Rs 350, which bounced twice

"Last year, the crop got damaged due to rains and I got a cheque of Rs 350 in the name of relief. Even that bounced twice," Bhavrao Ingole claims. [link]

Meanwhile, this is what our esteemed Minister of Agriculture has to say on the issue:

Union agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar said on Friday that the media were not doing justice to the issue of farmers’ suicides in Vidharbha. Briefing the press after a joint review of agriculture by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Mr. Pawar said he came to the conclusion after hearing the State government’s presentation on the package for farmers.

Mr. Pawar said the State’s presentation showed there was a substantial improvement in the situation. The State government figures showed a fall in the number of suicideshe said. He, however, said he did not want to comment on the statistics in response to questions. [link]

As always, we are sternly reminded that we should abaondon stats and rely on life stories narrated by ministers instead.

Meanwhile a new visit by the PM is planned. Who knows if the new package will be of any help? If you were to believe in the Rajiv Gandhi theorem (at the most 15% of any social spending reaches the intended audience), the situation seems to be stark.

We end this series with a couple of quotes by P. Sainath (this year's Magsaysay award winner), who is perhaps the most authoritative figure on farmer related issues in India today:

Q. Is it true that the suicides went up in July this year as opposed to last year despite the PM’s visit to Vidarbha?

There are two sets of figures, one is the official set, which is very recent, shaky and not reliable, then there are the Vidarbha's Jan Andolan Samiti's figures, which are more reliable. Both confirm this.

Q. Have there been any positives at all in the government’s actions?

There was a political benefit to the PM's visit; nothing in terms of the economy. [..] To find the positives in the government's actions, you would need a microscope.

[link]

Farmers and Numbers: Part IV