Grain Drain In Punjab

In Punjab, the granary of India, farmer suicides are a spectre grown too big to ignore. Earlier, proud Jat Sikh farmers even hesitated to admit debt in their family. Now, says Hardyal Singh, a former sarpanch of Gobindpura, "suicide is not a matter of shame anymore. Villagers speculate who's next."

With around 11 lakh farmers, Punjab's high per capita debt of Rs 41,000-plus translates into a total rural debt at Rs 5,000 crore! Economists call even this a "gross underestimate". In March 2003, total institutional loans outstanding against farmers was Rs 10,745 crore. Rs 9,240 crore is outstanding towards commission agents.

The green revolution brought bountiful crops together with a sharp hike in living standards and credit was no problem. Somewhere down the line, this credit turned into serious debt. About 25 per cent of the agricultural income in Punjab goes towards interest payment. Says Dr H.S. Shergill, Punjab University professor: "Though agricultural output has grown sharply, per capita income of the agricultural population grew much slower at 1.5 per cent. Even this small income has been absorbed by the growth of consumption spending."

As the Punjab farmer spent lavishly on family functions and living in style, mostly from credit, the yields from his fields went down despite more and costlier inputs. The water level is dipping at almost a foot a year, making irrigation very expensive. According to a Punjab Agriculture University study, 85 per cent of the gross cropped area of 5.03 million ha has a water level problem. Says Dr Pramod Kumar, head, Institute for Development and Communications: "Agriculture in Punjab may flourish, but the small farmer is doomed."

Punjab's southern Malwa belt has the highest debt-related suicides. Says Jaswinder Kaur of village Jawaharwale in Sangrur, who lost her husband to debt in 2003: "We do not have the money to sink deep tubewells. But the outsiders who are buying up our land are putting them in. We are labourers on our own land now." In the Sangrur-Mansa belt, entire villages are up for sale. Surjit Singh of Patal Kurd village says at least half the land of his village is for sale—200 acres were sold off in the past year. To the commission agents who lay the debt trap, or farmers who have yielded their land to urbanisation.

Punni Devi remembers the good old days when "there was plenty of water and enough to eat" off eight acres. Four acres were sold to marry off the daughters, the rest going to four sons. The eldest, Diwan Singh, drank pesticides in 2003—he had a debt of Rs 3 lakh. His father died of a heart attack soon after. Now women manage the household by dairying.

The state recently admitted to 2,116 suicides since 1988. Disputing this, Inderjit Singh Jaijee, chairman of Movement Against State Repression, claims he has documented 750 suicides in only two blocks (Lehra and Andana) in the same period. Shergill suggests a periodic study of rural debt and suicides, to guide policy formulation and depoliticise the issue. The state, already facing declining growth, should heed his advice.