State rehabilitation minister Makrand Patil told the Maharashtra legislative assembly on July 1, 2025 that 767 farmer suicides were reported between January and March this year. This means that, on average, at least one farmer died by suicide every three hours — drawing renewed attention to the enduring crisis in India’s agricultural heartland.
The highest number of cases came from the Vidarbha region, he said. Patil was responding to a question during the session on how the government is supporting families who have lost their primary earners to suicide.
According to documents from the session accessed by Down To Earth, Patil in a written reply stated that the west Vidarbha districts of Yavatmal, Amravati, Akola, Buldhana and Washim alone accounted for 257 of the cases or nearly 33 per cent of the total.
In Marathwada, which is also a hotspot for agrarian distress, 192 suicides were recorded in the same period.
An additional 55 cases were reported in April, May and June 2025, according to figures from the Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar divisional commissionerate.
Of the 767 suicides reported in the first quarter, compensation of Rs 1 lakh has been approved in 373 cases, while 200 claims were rejected. Another 194 cases are still under scrutiny. In 327 cases, the compensation has already been disbursed, Patil said.
The minister added that to alleviate distress, the state government is also offering compensation for standing crop losses due to unseasonal rain in April and other natural calamities. Farmers are being issued Rs 12,000 annually — Rs 6,000 from the central government’s Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi scheme and the rest from the state government.
The state is also providing psychological counselling to farmers experiencing depression and stress due to repeated losses, Patil said. Efforts are also underway to raise the minimum support price and to expand irrigation coverage in the state.
However, activists say these efforts have failed to make a meaningful dent. In a letter addressed to the chief minister on June 30, Vishnu Dhoble, regional president of the Samajwadi Janparishad, alleged that the government — despite being in power both at the Centre and in the state — has failed to prevent farmer suicides.
Dhoble pointed out that in 2023, the government approved Rs 60,000 crore for irrigation works, but much of this remains unimplemented. He claimed that more than 3,000 farmer suicides have been reported from the region in the past three years, based on revenue department figures.
Noted journalist P Sainath, speaking at a public event in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar in June, claimed a long-term decline in the farming population. “In the 2001 census, the number of farmers dropped by 7.2 million. The 2011 census saw a further 7.7 million reduction,” he said. “About 2,000 farmers are quitting agriculture every day in the country due to rising debt and low income.”
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