Bhopal: As many as 122 farmers ended their life in Madhya Pradesh since January and debt burden was the cause only in one case while in other instances illness, addiction, family feuds or person losing "mental balance" were the reasons, the state government has said.
The Kamal Nath-led Congress government, which completed one year in office on Tuesday, gave the information in the Legislative Assembly.
Opposition BJP attacked the government over the statistic, claiming that it shows that the much-hyped loan waiver scheme had failed to provide any relief.
Between January 1 to November 20, 2019, 122 farmers killed themselves in the state, Home Minister Bala Bachchan said in a written reply to a question by BJP's Ashish Sharma.
Only one of these 122 farmers committed suicide due to indebtedness, the reply said. Crop damage was not the reason for suicide in a single case, it added.
In 24 cases, addiction-related problems were said to have driven the persons to suicide. In 31 cases, the deceased took the extreme step because of illness, while 41 others committed suicide having lost their "mental balance", the minister's reply said.
Twenty farmers committed suicide due to family quarrels.
In four cases, the reason for suicide was not stated. Speaking to PTI, MLA Ashish Sharma said, "This data shows that Congress government's much-publicised loan waiver has failed.
In reality, most of these farmers committed suicide due to increasing debt and farm distress." State Congress spokesperson Pankaj Chaturvedi claimed that agrarian distress has decreased.
"Over 15,000 farmers had committed suicide during one-and-a-half decade of BJP rule due to farm distress and debt burden. Now the distress has decreased due to loan waiver and other benefits provided by the Congress government," he said.
After the Congress ousted the BJP government in the November 2018 elections, Kamal Nath took oath as chief minister on December 17 last year.
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