Eleven more debt trapped farmers ended their lives in past 48 hours in Vidarbha, taking the number of suicides in that region in January 2008 to 74. Among the 11 unfortunate farmers, three were from Wardha district, three from Amravati, one each from Gondia, Buldhana, Yavatmal, Chandrapur and Akola districts, Vidarbha Jan Andolan Samiti (VJAS) said in a statement from Nagpur.

According to VJAS convener Kishor Tiwari, the latest suicides are due to forcible debt collection by private money lenders and private banks who are involving police in debt recovery, despite the talk about the loan waiver by the Central government.

Meanwhile, according to a report by NCRB (National Crime Records Bureau), Maharashtra topped the country in number of suicides (including farmers and others) since 1995, and the state accounted for 36,428 suicides between 1995 to 2006. The figures have been taken from NCRB’s annual report for 2006 on Accidents and Suicides in India. While 2006 was the worst year for Maharashtra recording 4,453 suicides, including the farmers’ suicides, despite the Prime Minister’s special relief package of Rs 3750 crore and the Maharashtra government’s Vidarbha package, which were announced that year.

 The two packages, which waived interest on farm loans, however, brought down the number of suicides marginally in 2007. The year saw the number of farmers ending their lives to 1230, which was 212 less than the 2006 figures.