Over 10,700 people involved in farming committed suicide in 2023, 38% from Maharashtra: NCRB

New Delhi: More than 10,700 people from the farming sector committed suicide during 2023 and 38.5 per cent of them were from Maharashtra and 22.5 per cent from Karnataka, according to a report of the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB).

A total of 66.2 per cent (1,13,416) of the total suicide victims (1,71,418) in 2023 were having an annual income of less than Rs 1 lakh.

As many as 10,786 people involved in the farming sector, consisting of 4,690 farmers or cultivators and 6,096 agricultural labourers, committed suicides during 2023, accounting for 6.3 per cent of total suicides victims in the country, the report said.

Out of the 4,690 farmer or cultivator suicides, a total of 4,553 were male and 137 were female and out of the 6,096 suicides committed by agricultural labourers during 2023, as many as 5,433 were male and 663 were female.

Majority of suicide victims engaged in the farming sector were reported in Maharashtra (38.5 per cent), Karnataka (22.5), Andhra Pradesh (8.6), Madhya Pradesh (7.2) and Tamil Nadu (5.9 per cent).

However, certain states and union territories namely, West Bengal, Bihar, Odisha, Jharkhand, Himachal Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Goa, Manipur, Mizoram, Nagaland, Tripura, Chandigarh, Delhi and Lakshadweep reported no suicides of farmers or cultivators as well as agricultural labourers.

The NCRB also reported on the economic status of suicide victims. A total of 66.2 per cent (1,13,416) of the total suicide victims (1,71,418) in 2023 were having annual income of less than 1 lakh. As many as 28.3 per cent (48,432) of suicide victims belong to annual income group of 1 lakh to less than 5 lakh.

Among the suicides committed by un-employed persons, 15.4 per cent were in Kerala (2,191 out of 14,234 suicides), 14.5 per cent in Maharashtra (2,070 suicides), 11.2 per cent in Tamil Nadu (1,601 suicides) and 9.1 per cent in Uttar Pradesh (1,295 suicides).

Majority of suicides committed by persons engaged in business activities were reported by Maharashtra (16 per cent), Karnataka (14.1 per cent), Tamil Nadu (8.9 per cent), West Bengal (8 per cent), and Madhya Pradesh (6.8 per cent).

The maximum numbers of suicide victims (24.6 per cent) (42,238) were educated up to matriculation/ secondary level, whereas middle level educated accounted for 18.6 per cent (31,834), higher secondary / intermediate/ pre-university educated (17.5 per cent) (29,920), primary educated (14.8 per cent) (25,303), and illiterate (11.8 per cent) (20,149).

Only 5.5 per cent (9,353 out of 1,71,418 victims) of total suicide victims were graduates and above, the NCRB report said.