Farmer suicides in Karnataka at 25-year low due to good rain

The number of farmers dying by suicide inKarnatakais at a 25-year low with copious rain enough for good yield and not too much to cause floods coming to the rescue of farmers in the past couple of years. The government attributes the dip in deaths to complementary farmer-friendly policies by the Centre and state.

From 1997 to 2021, the state has seen 47,871 farmers deaths by suicide. Data from the Agriculture-notes-for-state-psc-exams”>Agriculture department shows that between 1997 and 2019, the number of deaths in a year has been more than 1,000, breaching the 1,400 mark barring one year.

In 2014, the state saw 768 such deaths. In 2020, the state recorded 766 deaths, of which the government has accepted 583 as genuine and some cases are under investigation. Up to October of 2021, there have been 202 deaths with 99 having been accepted and the remaining under investigation.

The government has 65 lakh farmers on its Database. Constant Communication is carried out through SMSes about schemes.