A Darker Green

THE romanticised image of the brawny Jat farmer atop his tractor, a bumper harvest of golden grain in the backdrop, has always epitomised Punjab's prosperity. Now that myth has been shattered, with a rash of apparently debt-related suicides—a couple of hundred, according to estimates by activists and the media—by marginal farmers in Sangrur district. In fact, experts say the deaths could well be the price of maintaining the idealised picture, as small farmers are forced to live way beyond their means, overspending on agricultural inputs and non-productive domestic consumption despite fragmentation of holdings.

In Banga village, farmer Balbir 'Beera' Singh set himself afire in the courtyard of his ancestral home on May 7, becoming the village's 23rd case of alleged suicide since 1994. His brother, Rathaiah, was the 22nd. All the victims, say villagers, had two things in common: they were deeply in debt and relatively young, aged 20 to 40.

On May 14, former sarpanch Kuldip Singh hit the headlines when he killed his wife and child and then killed himself by swallowing pesticides. A medium farmer from Sakroid village in Patiala district, he was in debt to the tune of Rs 3.4 lakh.

In Chotian village of Sangrur's Munak sub-division, there have been 35 cases in five years, says farmer Ram Dayal Singh."When five young men from the village die under the wheels of a train in two years and half-a-dozen others from consuming pesticide, it is hard to believe all the deaths were accidental," he says. Likewise, Balran village reports some 30 cases and Dalhara village 29. Human rights activist Inderjit Singh Jaijee, whose Movement Against State Repression (MASR) first took up the issue, says similar reports have come in from Mansa and Ludhiana districts. A survey conducted by the Punjabi daily Ajit found at least 75 deaths in the Barnala sub-division.

The authorities, however, downplay this spate of suicides. Prime minister Atal Behari Vajpayee and chief minister Prakash Singh Badal have termed the reports as "baseless" while parliamentary affairs minister Madan Lal Khurana laughed off the very idea of rural poverty in Punjab. But for Beera's mother, widow and two sons, it is no laughing matter. "We are in the grip of moneylenders. Two qillas were sold to pay off the debt and only three are left, but still we owe Rs 40,000," says the older son, Ramesh.

Sarpanch Leela Ram admits that none of the deaths were officially recorded as suicides. The village chowkidar was instructed to describe them as accidental or kudrati (of natural causes). Says farmer Ramdiya Singh: "To give the true cause invites police harassment. Besides, to take a body for post mortem to Sangrur and bring it back for cremation means a loss of two days plus heavy expenditure." Adds the sarpanch: "We told the tehsildar about the suicides, but no one will tell the truth in front of a policeman."

 Initially, it was easy for the state government to deny the reports as no official records were available. But independent media investigations bore out Jaijee's contention that the number of suicides were abnormally high and Badal was compelled to order an inquiry. "The number of deaths is on the higher side but as for the causation we will have to wait for the inquiry reports. They are not due to indebtedness," argues Badal's principal secretary, Ramesh Inder Singh.

The farmers insist the deaths are poverty-related. A survey conducted by the Chandigarh-based Institute of Development Communication (IDC) at the behest of the state government points to a sharp increase in rural indebtedness—a whopping Rs 5,700 crore. Of this, 46 per cent comes from commission agents (ahartiyas) who charge 2.5 per cent interest monthly and have taken on the role of sahukars. The interest burden alone is Rs 1,100 crore, amounting to 11 per cent of the net income from crop production. Small farmers are the worst affected: they borrowed far more and were least able to pay back and 70 per cent are in debt.

Chief Election Commissioner M.S.Gill, who has served as agriculture secretary and Punjab development commissioner, is not surprised: "The middle and small peasant even in Punjab is under severe pressure and burdens. I would like to see government policies focused more in this direction." Significantly, unlike other states, where suicides by farmers have been linked directly to crop failure, Punjabi farmers themselves attribute indebtedness not so much to frequent crop failures and yield fluctuations as to excessive expenditure on social ceremonies and the high prices of farm inputs.

 The cotton crop failed last year and the wheat crops too suffered because of unseasonal rain, but indebtedness arises from different reasons. Prof Sucha Singh Gill of Patiala's Punjabi University says farmers need credit for various reasons: agriculture in Punjab is investment-intensive, requiring tremendous inputs of fertilisers, pesticides, new seeds, machinery and irrigation systems, which is not suited to small holdings; the increase in the social cost of living. The new generation, aspirational way beyond its means, is not enamoured of agriculture but has no other opportunities.

Frustration fuels social and family tensions and could well be one cause of suicides by young men. Increasingly elaborate ("Maruti") marriages are an index of increased domestic consumerism. Dowry is rampant and consequentially, so are dowry deaths. Loans to buy tractors, which are then offloaded at low prices and the money diverted for non-productive expenditure, is a common feature. Jagga Singh of Chotian, for instance, admits to defaulting on a tractor loan—after selling it off.

GOVERNMENT statistics show that holdings of 5 acres or less comprised 44 per cent of the total (Gill regards 7.5 acres as the minimum for economic viability) in 1991. Simultaneously, holdings of 20 acres or more have also increased while those in between have shown a marginal change. This points to two concurrent trends—marginalisation of the small farmer and consolidation of holdings by the rich farmers. Small farmers have taken to leasing out their land to capital-intensive cultivators, the amount depending on crop intensity. Once the gung-ho Punjabi farmer could migrate to Rajasthan or Terai, but both options have now been closed.

In Munak sub-division of Sangrur, the immediate, and recurring, problem is of flooding. Thrice a year, the low-lying fields are flooded by the Ghaggar river. Farmers say this began five years thanks to faulty construction of the SYL canal.

Punjab's agrarian economy needs structural change, says the IDC's Pramod Kumar. Crop diversification and forward linkages with industry should be the order of the day. The state government recently accepted a proposal for market intelligence networking, to feed data to farmers on which crops to grow for the global market. Punjab's wheat, cotton and rice are already competitive. In 1995, the price of wheat at Kandla port—that is, including transportation costs—was Rs 4,761 per tonne, while the international price was Rs 6,934 per tonne. A fact noted by experts who want a hike in the procurement price of wheat.

Three decades after the Green Revolution, the dark side of rural Punjab is beginning to emerge: villages stalked by alcoholism, drug addiction, debt, suicides and dowry deaths.