Suraj Govind, 9, son of a farmer who committed suicide in Maharashtra, poses for a picture during a protest organised by various farmers' organisations demanding complete debt waiver and good rates for their crops, in New Delhi, in July 2017. The cap reads "My father has committed suicide". (Photo: Reuters)

The campaign for assembly elections in Maharashtra is reaching its crescendo as the October 21 polling day inches close. Political leaders are busy criss-crossing the state and parties are leaving no stone unturned to woo voters by promising a better future, boasting their time in government and demonising their rival. From Article 370 to allegations of corruption and demand for Bharat Ratna for Veer Savarkar, the election campaign has been vibrant but what is missing is a discourse on agrarian crisis in Maharashtra, a major agricultural state with a history of farmers' suicide.

Information accessed through RTI has revealed that in the past four years of the BJP-Shiv Sena rule in Maharashtra, at least eight farmers committed suicide every day. The state government's RTI reply shows that 12,021 farmers committed suicide in Maharashtra between 2015 and 2018.

The information was sought by RTI activist Shakeel Ahmed.

The reply, a copy of which is with India Today TV, revealed that in 2015, a total of 3,263 farmers committed suicide in Maharashtra. The next year the number was 3,080 and in 2017, a total of 2,917 farmers killed themselves. 2018, the last year for which yearly data was provided, saw 2,761 farmer's suicide in the state.

These figures show that though the overall number of farmers' suicide has come down from 3,263 in 2015 to 2,761 in 2018, the problem still remains widespread as at least seven farmers killed themselves every day in 2018.

YEAR TOTAL CASES ELIGIBLE CASES INELIGIBLE CASES PENDING CASES EX-GRATIA PAYMENT TO FARMERS 2013 1296 665 629 2 665 2014 2039 1358 674 7 1358 2015 3263 2152 1081 30 2150 2016 3080 1768 1292 20 1768 2017 2917 1638 987 292 1611 2018 2761 1330 1050 381 1316

This year, between January 1 and February 28, a total of 396 farmers killed themselves in Maharashtra. In other words, on an average 6 farmers killed themselves every day in the first two months of this year.

Most of these suicides were in Amravati (144), followed by Aurangabad (129), Nashik (83), Nagpur (25) and Pune (15).

"Seventy per cent of India's population is dependent on agriculture. Farmers toil day and night to feed the country. But these very farmers have been living in crisis for years and nothing substantial has been done to elevate them from their present condition," said Shakeel Ahmed.

During the campaign, when it comes to farmers' suicide, parties have only blamed each other for the crisis.

At a recent rally in Akola district of Maharashtra, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis blamed tthe Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) president Sharad Pawar for the present state of farmers in the state. Fadnavis said Pawar's policies were "anti-farmer" and said they resulted in farmers committing suicide. "Even after remaining in power for 15 years in Maharashtra and also being a Union minister, Sharad Pawar did little for farmers," Devendra Fadnavis said.

Addressing a press conference in Mumbai today, former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said, "Maharashtra used to number one in investment but today it is number one in farmer suicides."

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