MUMBAI: Climate change has led to more than 59,000 farmer suicides in India over the last three decades and rising temperatures could drive the suicide rate up further without government help for farmers, according to a US university study.
University of California Berkeley researcher Tamma Carleton said suicide rates in India have nearly doubled since 1980 and claim more than 130,000 lives every year, with about 7 percent of these attributable to warming linked to human activity.
“It was both shocking and heartbreaking to see that thousands of people face such bleak conditions that they are driven to harm themselves,” Carleton said in a statement.
“Without interventions that help families adapt to a warmer climate, it’s likely we will see a rising number of lives lost to suicide as climate change worsens in India,” she added.
The study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences found every 1 degree Celsius increase above 20°C (68°F) during the growing season led to about 65 suicides across India.
A 5°C increase had five times that effect, showed the study which focused on the summer monsoon period June-September.
More than half India’s population depends on the land for a livelihood.
Tens of thousands of farmers have killed themselves over the last couple of decades in India — by drinking pesticide or hanging themselves — as unseasonal rains and drought led to crop failures, leaving farmers struggling with debt.
More than 12,600 farmers and agricultural workers committed suicide in 2015 alone, accounting for about 10 percent of all suicides in India, according to official data.
Almost 60 percent of suicides were caused by bankruptcy and indebtedness, the data showed.
The government has announced loan write-offs, introduced crop insurance schemes and subsidised inputs such as fertilizers.
But farmers’ unions say implementation of these measures has been slow. They have taken to the streets to demand bigger loan waivers and better output prices in protests that have sometimes turned deadly.
With temperatures in India forecast to rise by 3°C by 2050, policies to protect farmers with crop insurance and improvements in rural credit markets may help check suicides, said Carleton.
“Learning that the desperation is economic means that we can do something about this. The right policies could save thousands,” she said.
“The tragedy is unfolding today ... This is our problem, right now.”
Rising temperatures could drive up farmer suicides in India without govt help — study
Rising temperatures could drive up farmer suicides in India without govt help — study
Palestine Action hunger strike prisoner loses ability to speak
- Heba Muraisi unable to ‘form sentences’ as she feels ‘weaker as each day passes’
- Fellow activist Teuta Hoxha ‘virtually bedridden’ as hunger strike continues
LONDON: A prisoner on hunger strike in the UK, detained for activities in support of the banned group Palestine Action, has lost the ability to speak, The Independent reported.
Heba Muraisi said in a statement that she can no longer “form sentences, and (is) struggling to maintain conversation.” She added via the Prisoners for Palestine group that she feels “weaker as each day passes.”
Campaigners say another prisoner on hunger strike now cannot stand up. Eight activists initially went on strike awaiting trial for a range of alleged offenses relating to Palestine Action, including violence and criminal damage.
Earlier this month two of the activists, Qesser Zuhrah and Amu Gib, paused their strikes after 48 days and were admitted to hospital.
As well as Muraisi, three others remain on hunger strike: Teuta Hoxha, Kamran Ahmed and Lewie Chiaramello.
Hoxha, according to Prisoners for Palestine, is “no longer able to stand without blacking out,” experiences “increasing levels of brain fog” and is “virtually bedridden.”
The hunger strikers are demanding immediate bail and to be allowed to “send and receive communications without restriction, surveillance, or interference from the prison administration.”
The eight have been charged over two incidents, a break-in at a Royal Air Force base in June that saw two military aircraft damaged, and a break-in at a facility owned by Israeli-linked defense company Elbit Systems UK on Nov. 19, 2024.
A spokesperson for Prisoners for Palestine said: “Unlike the prison guards, who lock up the prisoners early to go home to their Christmas dinner, the hunger strikers don’t get a Christmas break.
“Just like the Christians in Gaza, who continue to suffer in the freezing cold at the hands of the settler-colonial entity.
“The hunger strikers say to us, don’t forget the people of Palestine over Christmas, and continue to demand a meeting with the British government on their behalf.”
Lawyers acting for the eight have said they risk death if their strike continues and the government does not intervene.
Earlier this month, protests took place led by MP Zarah Sultana over claims that Zuhrah had been refused an ambulance, and the hunger strikers’ legal teams have begun action against the government over what they say are breaches of its own prison safety policy framework.
Prisons Minister James Timpson said: “We are very experienced at dealing with hunger strikes. Unfortunately, over the last five years we have averaged over 200 hunger strike incidents every year and the processes that we have are well-established and they work very well — with prisons working alongside our NHS (National Health Service) partners every day, making sure our systems are robust and working — and they are.
“I am very clear. I don’t treat any prisoners differently to others. That is why we will not be meeting any prisoners or their representatives.
“We have a justice system that is based on the separation of powers, and the independent judiciary is the cornerstone of our system.”
