Suicides not limited to farmers, says Pawar

Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar has said that suicides were happening not just among farming community but across the entire society.

"Suicides are not restricted to one sector of the society," Pawar said at an interaction organised at Indian Women's Press Corps here.

He said that suicide plagues all parts of society as borne out by the annual crime survey brought out by National Crime Records Bureau.

"The home ministry report, if you look at it, shows that suicides occur in different categories," he said.

According to some studies, about 180,000 farmers have committed suicide in India unable to bear the burden of debt between 1997 to 2006.

Pawar told parliament earlier this month that more than 3,450 farmers killed themselves in the last three years.

Maharashtra, his home state, accounted for the largest number of deaths, with 1,720 suicides recorded.

This year, six suicides have so far been recorded from Maharashtra's Vidarbha region.

At the same time, Pawar said there was a serious issue of farmers in India not being able to subsist on their land holdings.

"At least 82 percent of farmers have land less than two hectares. Out of that, 65 percent do not have regular access to water," said Pawar.

"How do you expect a family of five to survive (on this)?" he asked.

Pawar said there had to be a decrease in the population pressure on agriculture.

"We have to decrease the dependence in agriculture by providing alternatives (to farmers)," he said.