Why Indian Farmers are committing suicide?

Everyday the newspaper brings news of some farmer or the other committing suicide. Statistics galore with figures showing 13,754 farmers who had committed suicide in 2012, which is roughly 12% of the total cases of suicide in India. The State of Maharashtra leads in this matter, followed by Andra Pradesh (including Telengana) and Karnataka. A study indicates that only 16.8% of these farmers committed suicide because of failure of crop. Even then this is a huge number, especially so because even today 60% of India's population live in rural areas and depend on agriculture for livelihood.  

What makes one wonder about the whole matter is that the figures of unpaid loan for which these farmers are committing suicide are ridiculously so small, that one wonders why on earth a farmer would commit suicide for such a paltry sum of money? The loan averages between Rs. 41,000 to Rs. 100000/- In Dollars it would be as low as $ 611 and $ 1493/- Should a human being willfully forego his life, leave his family of wife and children in the limbo, just because he was not able to pay this amount? That is unfair and cruel injustice. 

The major reason why a farmer might be committing suicide for such a small sum, is because he has no means of approaching a Bank to obtain a loan. Either the bank will not have a branch in his village, or if it has then the branch manager might shun from entertaining such small loans because the processing and recovery becomes cumbersome. The same bank has no problem in advancing crores of Rupees to the rich and the mighty, because it is a single loan and it goes by the brand name of the person. There are recent cases, why everyday cases, where millionaires and billionaires owe billions of Rupees to the banks and are defaulting and the banks willingly write-off such outstanding loans. When a millionaire and a billionaire goes scot-free, a poor farmer has to commit suicide for not being able to pay a sum of Rs. 40,000 and 1,00000. The only source of availing such loans for a poor farmer in the village is the local money lender who charges an astronomically huge interest of 36% to 50% on the loan taken. The unpaid loan grows disproportionately because of the high interest. Whatever they pay goes only to meet the interest and the principal is not even touched. It is almost like a bonded laborer, who because he was not able to pay the loan, becomes a slave along with his family to the landlord who advanced him the money in the first instance. The only difference is here the head of the family, the husband or the father or after them even the son, commit suicide, not able to face the predicament of not being able to pay the never ending repayments.  

Can't the government do something? Are there not schemes to alleviate suffering of people in such dire situations? Of course they can and they do have schemes, but faulty implementation, rapacious money lenders in collusion with the local government officials and bank officials, see to that these schemes do not reach the persons for whom it is meant. Government can do a lot. Spread the bank branches widely to cover all villages; extend liberally small loans for agriculture and ensure these reach the poor not just in paper but in real. Implement the law against money lending at high interest rates and take action against such unscrupulous money lenders and so on. Why do they not do it? 

Politicians who rise to power on the voters of these people, promising Utopia and then fail to do anything at all once they come to power are at the root of this problem. Then comes the bureaucrat, corrupt and sneaky, especially at the cutting edge, not just in the government but also in the banking sector, eager for a bribe and a consideration, which alone will make them move; and what about the feudal system which still remains in the country, where vested interests prevail and the government, banking and every other sector work only for the welfare of the rich and the powerful and not for the poor farmer. 

Who really bothers for the common man or in this case a farmer? Every one is busy fattening their own purses and the farmer is left to take his own life, because he was not able to repay the loan taken for his crops. Sad, is n't it? I feel quite helpless as any other well-wisher of this country and its people, but is there any redemption at all? Is there hope at the end of the tunnel? I wonder.