Question raised in Rajya Sabha on suicide by farmers due to burden of loan, 24/07/2015
Question raised in Rajya Sabha on suicide by farmers due to burden of loan, 24/07/2015. Government is providing crop loan upto Rs.3.00 lakh at 4% per annum to such farmers who repay their loan as per the repayment schedule fixed by the bank. Farmers are indebted to both institutional and non-institutional sources of credit. However, borrowing from non-institutional sources is the major reason for debt related farmers’ distress which is one of the reported reasons for farmers’ suicide in the country. Details of agriculture loans disbursed by Cooperative Banks, Regional Rural Banks and Commercial Banks during 2014-15 is at Annexure-I. Besides indebtedness, causes of suicide by farmers include, inter-alia, successive failure of crops, drought, socio-economic and personal. A statement showing the number of suicides committed by farmers due to agrarian reasons as reported by the State Governments/ Union Territories is given in the Annexure-II. Information collection system does not capture separate details of loans taken by the farmers from the moneylenders.