Surja Mal (named changed), 51, left for his routine morning walk in the fields on the outskirts of Bass village in Haryana’s Charkhi Dadri district on February 5, but never returned. His nephew later found him dead in the fields.
Reeling under a financial crisis, with an outstanding loan of ₹10 lakh and unable to make his living out of 5 acre of agricultural land that he had taken on lease, Surja Mal , a tenant farmer, died by suicide.
More than a month after his death, his family, a Below Poverty Line cardholder, has been running from pillar to post, but no help has come their way so far.
Surja Mal’s son Rakesh (name changed) said that he had submitted a memorandum to Deputy Commissioner explaining the circumstances leading to the death of his father and sought ₹20 lakh as financial assistance and a government job, but he was yet to hear back from him.
Borrowed money
The family ran into financial difficulties after they had to borrow around ₹4 lakh for the marriage of their daughter five years ago. While Surja Mal was struggling to pay off the earlier debt, his two sons met with an accident. Surja Mal was forced to borrow another ₹6 lakh at a high rate of interest.
He had borrowed the money from private lenders. “Since the income from the agriculture was just not enough to take care of even routine expenses, my father was worried as to how to repay the loan. He would often talk about it,” said Rakesh. After his father’s death, Rakesh left his graduation midway to work as a mason to support his family.
District administration spokesperson said the deceased, according to his brother, was a heart patient and was not able to afford the treatment and thus, ended his life. The spokesperson said that Surja Mal did not own any land and was thus, not a farmer.
“The government cannot announce any relief to the deceased’s family with the model code of conduct being in force. The family can write to the Chief Minister seeking relief under the CM Relief Fund,” said the spokesperson.
Misplaced policies
Local farmer leader Shamsher Singh said the deepening agrarian crisis led to the death of Surja Mal who was unable to earn enough from farming.
He said the deceased was also the victim of government’s misplaced policies targeting only the agricultural landowners and not reaching out to the tenant farmers.
“All the policies of the government are for those who own agricultural land. Even the latest announcement in the Budget for monthly assistance is for those owning land, but a vast majority of those engaged in farming do not own the land. The government does not even have any policy to help the farmers owning land and ending their lives due to financial losses in agriculture. The government has also not made public the figures on farmer suicides for the past two years,” said Mr. Singh.
Former Haryana Minister Satpal Sangwan of the Congress government, said he had met the family of the deceased and written to Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar seeking relief for them.
Suicide prevention helpline: Sanjivini, Society for Mental Health, 011-4076 9002, Monday-Saturday (10 a.m.-7.30 p.m.)