Maharashtra witnessed a staggering 14,000 farmer suicides (Representative image)
The relief and rehabilitation department’s figures show that 8,945 cases were found eligible for government assistance, 4,042 were rejected as ineligible and 941 remain under inquiry. Of the eligible cases, 8,650 families have received Rs 1 lakh each, while 295 are still awaiting payment. Ghadge, of the Young Whistleblowers Foundation, had sought district-wise and month-wise figures for the 54-month period. On July 24, the department’s public information officer, Snehal Sawant, said the information was available with individual district collector offices and advised him to approach them. Ghadge said this was the first time in 10 years that the department had refused to provide district-wise farmer suicide data. His demand for wider financial protection dates back to June 21, 2023, when he wrote to then chief minister Eknath Shinde about families whose Rs 1 lakh compensation claims had been rejected.
“I have spent a decade following this issue, writing letters, filing RTIs and asking authorities to look beyond statistics and see the human beings behind every death,” Ghadge said. The chief minister’s office acknowledged his email and forwarded it to the agriculture department, Ghadge said, but he never received a response. He alleged that the refusal came under pressure from senior government officers. This allegation could not be independently verified from the information available. The missing data are crucial for identifying clusters of distress, comparing trends across districts and assessing whether government interventions are working. Without them, researchers, legislators and journalists cannot adequately scrutinise regional disparities or determine where preventive measures and financial assistance need to be strengthened. He added that the government must ensure no distressed family is abandoned, even if it cannot prevent every tragedy.