Farm suicides up in 7 Punjab districts |
There has been an alarming rise in the number of farm suicides in seven districts of Punjab, with more than three times as many people taking their lives in the period April 2010 to December 2016, than was the case in the preceding decade, 2000-2011. A survey conducted by Punjabi University (Patiala) says as many as 1,309 cases of farm suicide were reported in Punjab`s seven districts of Faridkot, Fatehgarh Sahib, Hoshiarpur, Patiala, Rupnagar, SAS Nagar and Shri Muktsar Sahib between April 2010 and December 2016. During 2000-2011, the same seven districts recorded 365 cases of farm suicide, of which 211 were of farmers and 154, agricultural labourers.Since these seven districts do not include Bathinda, Mansa and Sangrur districts, which are known to be the `epicentre` of farmer suicides in Punjab, the overall numbers for the State are expected to be even bleaker. The latest survey was commissioned by the previous Shiromani Akali Dal-Bharatiya Janata Party (SAD-BJP) government in 2015 and covers all the 22 districts of Punjab. Three universities, Punjab Agricultural University (Ludhiana), Guru Nanak Dev University (Amritsar), and Punjabi University (Patiala) had been tasked with assessing the extent and causes of farmer suicides, with the districts being divided among them.
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