After Migrant Deaths, Centre Says No Data On Farmer Suicides

The government has no data on farmers suicide as many states do not submit figures to the National Crime Record Bureau (NCRB), the Rajya Sabha was told in a written reply today.

The NCRB is responsible for collecting and analysing crime data including suicides.

"As informed by NCRB many states and union territories had reported 'Nil' data on suicides by farmers, cultivators and agricultural labourers after several validations even while reporting suicides in other professions. Due to this limitation national data on causes of suicide in farming sector was untenable and not published separately," Minister of State (Home Affairs) G Kishan Reddy said in a written statement to Rajya Sabha.

However, as per latest NCRB data on accidental deaths and suicides, 10,281 farmers committed suicide in 2019 while this figure was 10,357 in 2018.

The suicide rate in the farming sector accounted for 7.4 per cent of the total suicides in the country - 5,957 farmers and 4,324 agricultural labourers, NCRB report states.

Last week, the centre faced immense backlash after the labour ministry said there is no data on migrants who lost their lives trying to reach home during the coronavirus lockdown. The ministry said the "question does not arise" of compensating the families of the labourers as there was no data.

The government then clarified after criticism that there was "no mechanism" to collect such data in districts.

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