India, May 23 -- Leader of the opposition in the legislative council Ambadas Danve on Wednesday said that from January to April 2025, 869 farmers had died by suicide across Maharashtra. He blamed the government's failure to ensure adequate prices, and crop losses due to natural calamities compounded by pending compensation as reasons for the farmers' distress.

For decades, farmers in Maharashtra, particularly drought-prone Vidarbha, have been struggling with crop losses, mounting debt, lack of adequate minimum support prices, and the absence of accessible credit facilities. Every year, thousands of farmers choose death by suicide as the only way to end the vicious cycle of debt they are trapped in, and to free themselves from private mon...