122 farmers killed selves in Bengal district in 2021, shows RTI report. NCRB says zero
India Today
A response to an RTI query has revealed that as many as 122 farmers committed suicide in Bengal’s West Medinipur district in 2021, but National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) data mentioned no farmer committed suicide in the district.
For the past few years, the West Bengal state government has been claiming that the income of farmers in the state has increased three times compared to other states and, besides, the number of farmer suicides is zero.
Recently, published data from the National Crime Records Bureau said no farmer has committed suicide in West Bengal in 2021. But the statistics furnished by the West Bengal government in response to an RTI query revealed some shocking data.
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In a reply to socio-legal researcher and RTI activist Biswanath Goswami’s query under the Right to Information (RTI) Act on how many farmers committed suicide in West Bengal last year, official documents provided by the West Bengal government said that in 2021, a total of 122 people committed suicide, who were related to the agriculture sector in West Medinipur district of the state alone. So far, in 2022, 34 farmers have committed suicide in that district. This information was given by the Public State Information Officer of the state and Deputy Superintendent of Police of Paschim Medinipur district in response to a query by social and law expert Biswanath Goswami.
According to the official response, the highest number of farmer and agricultural-dependent suicides occurred in the Ghatal police station area in West Medinipur district. A total of 63 people committed suicide there last year, 13 people who were dependent on agriculture committed suicide this year so far. After Ghatal, the number of farmer suicides in Goaltor increased to 14 last year and, so far, five people have committed suicide in the area this year. 10 people have committed suicide in the Anandapur police station area last year, and two have chosen to commit suicide so far this year. In the Keshpur region of the same district, 8 people who depended on agriculture committed suicide last year and five agricultural-dependent people in that area killed themselves this year.
Now, a question arises. If 122 farmers committed suicide in West Medinipur district alone in the state, then why is the number of farmers' suicides in the state shown as zero in the information published in the National Crime Record Bureau?
According to sources, all statistics are sent to the National Time Record Bureau by the state government. So, has the state deliberately sent distorted information to the NCRB to maintain the image of the state?
