Nearly 600 farmers in Maharashtra’s Marathwada region have died by suicide between January 1, 2022 and mid-August, according to official figures. Activists have blamed government policies to be the cause of the deaths. Some 547 farmers had died by suicide from January 1 through July, according to the figures received from the divisional commissioner’s office, Aurangabad. Another 37 deaths were registered in August alone, pushing the numbers close to 600, according to taluka offices. The suicides are being seen as a consequence of rains that damaged millions of hectares of agricultural land in July. Excessive rains July 11 and 12 affected over 100,000 farmers in 24 districts of Marathwada, damaging tur (pigeon pea), corn, soyabean, paddy, cotton and banana crops.
— source downtoearth.org.in | 18 Aug 2022