This has certainly reached epidemic proportions. Instead of methodologically reducing farm suicide numbers by a statistical sleight of hand, why does the state not evolve a coherent policy to end farm suicides?

Then there is the danger that the farmers might block traffic and throw daily life into a tizzy. The government wants people to get to their offices so that the economy functions. Businesses of the state and industry lose if roads are blocked, and that’s why the assembly line of men and women must reach the ‘production’ facilities. This is non-negotiable; after all, political funding has a personal relationship with deep pockets.

Slogans and acronyms on farmer-friendly policies can only be a fig leaf for a government that is, in fact, passionately and avowedly corporate-friendly.