Another Debt-Ridden Farmer Ends Life in Bihar

Patna: Another debt-ridden farmer has allegedly committed suicide by shooting himself in a village in Bihar’s Bhagalpur district, triggering anger and panic among villagers. This is the third case of suicide by farmers in the state in last few months.

Farmer suicide is something not common in impoverished Bihar unlike in developed states, such as Maharashtra, Punjab, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu.

The debt-ridden marginal farmer, Vinay Kumar Singh, in his early 40s, was a resident of Nonsar village under Sultanfanj police station in Bhagalpur, nearly 200 km from Patna. He allegedly ended his life after being under pressure from a bank, a primary agriculture credit society (PACS) and moneylenders, according to his family members.

According to his close relatives, Vinay committed suicide on Thursday inside his room when he was alone in the house when his wife and son had gone to the nearby market and daughter had gone to her coaching centre.

Vinay’s elder brother, Krishnanand Singh, blamed the bank and the moneylender for repeatedly pressuring him and harassing him to pay back the money lent to him for agriculture purpose.

“Like many other farmers, my brother Vinay also suffered heavy losses due to drought followed by floods in the last one year. The damage was greater this year and he was debt-ridden. He had taken a loan of Rs 80,000 from UCO Bank that he repaid by selling his farmland in September. He had also bought a tractor after taking loan, which he sold and repaid the loan. But he was under stress and depressed for other debt”, Krishna said.

Krishna told NewsClick on Friday that Vinay had taken a loan of Rs 5,000 from Bank of India for agriculture purpose two and half years ago and had not repaid it. “Last week a recovery team of the bank along with local police came and put pressure on him to repay the loan,” he said.

The bank officials refused to comment despite repeated attempts made by NewsClick to get a repsonse.

Local PACS in charge Prashant Kumar said Vinay had taken a loan of Rs 10,000 for agriculture purposes two years ago but had not repaid it.

Sultanganj police station sub-inspector Dinanath Rai said the police recovered Vinay’s body and an empty cartridge from his room. An FSL team has collected samples from the site for investigation. ”Police have no information on whether he was debt-ridden or under stress after loss in agriculture” he said.

About two-thirds of Bihar’s population of 10.5 crore is dependent on agriculture for livelihood. The sector employs 81% of the workforce and generates nearly 42% of the state’s domestic product, according to state government’s figures.