Tuesday (October 15): A debt-ridden farmer has allegedly committed suicide in Maharashtra’s Nagpur district, police said today.
Mahadev Raghunath Ranade (48), who was under stress as he was unable to repay his loans, hanged himself from a ceiling hook at his home in Dhapewada Khurd village on Monday evening, an official at Kalmeshwar police station said.
His wife and son were at their farm when he took the extreme step, he said.
A suicide note was recovered from the spot in which Ranade purportedly mentioned that his cotton crop was severely damaged last year due to the pink bollworm (pest) attack, the official said.
“The farmer had taken a loan of around Rs one lakh from his friends and other villagers for sowing cotton this year. But, as he was unable to repay the loan, he took the extreme step,” the official said, quoting the suicide note.
Ranade owned four acres of agricultural land in the village, he added.
Farmers’ Suicide in India:
The NCRB (National Crime Records Bureau) of India reported that a total 296,438 Indian farmers had committed suicide since 1995.
Of these, 60,750 farmer suicides were in the state of Maharashtra since 1995.
Remainder spread out in Odisha, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat and Chhattisgarh, all states with loose financial and entry regulations.
As of 2018, in Maharashtra alone, more than 60,000 suicides had taken place, with an average of 10 suicides every day.
