No let up in India farm suicides

BBC

The rate of farmer suicides in India's Maharashtra state has gone up in recent years despite expensive relief schemes, a government report says.

It blames poor implementation and lack of co-ordination between government agencies for the failures.

Thousands of farmers have committed suicide in Maharashtra in recent years, saddled by debts they could not repay.

The state and the federal government together pledged more than $1bn to provide relief to farmers in distress.

Some 10,000 farmers a year are estimated to commit suicide in India.

'Distressed'

The report, prepared by the Comptroller and Auditor General of India, says there have been "serious efficiency lapses in implementation of the relief schemes".

"Considering the deficiencies noticed in the various components of the packages, underutilisation of available funds, important areas of agrarian distress not being covered under the packages, and coverage of only a fraction of distressed farmers, reduction in farmers' distress in Vidarbha region does not inspire confidence," the report says.

In 2005, the Maharashtra state government announced a relief package for "farmers in distress" after the number of suicides went up from 146 in 2003-2004 to 455 the next year........