148 farmers committed suicide in Gujarat in two years
Ahmedabad : The Gujarat government has admitted that 148 cases of farmer suicides were registered in the state during the last two years.
While replying to a question in the state assembly Thursday, Chief Minister Narendra Modi said the 148 cases were individual suicides. There were no cases of mass suicides, he said, adding that most suicides were because of losses incurred due to inclement weather.
In some cases, factors like mental illness, family issues and long term ailments also provoked the farmers to take this extreme step, said Modi. He added that none of the farmers who died belonged to the scheduled caste.
Also, going by the figures up to Jan 31, at least 28 victims were tribal farmers.
The data in Modi's reply refutes the Gujarat government's claims until now that the state's agriculture sector was thriving and that the condition of farmers was improving.
The government had previously denied reports that many farmers committed suicide because of agricultural failure following poor weather conditions.
