New Delhi: In yet another shocking incident that highlights the plight of farmers, a mother who was unable to feed her five children any more burnt herself to death in the drought hit Marathwada region.
According to media reports, Manisha Gatkal, a woman farmer from Maharashtra's Osmanabad district set herself on fire in her house after sending her children outside on Saturday, the day country celebrated Raksha Bandhan.
Even a week after her death, her children continue to starve from lack of food grains.
“We are really very poor. There was no food. I had no work… When I got some work I went out. She latched the door and killed herself,” Gatkal's husband Laxman told a news channel.
One of her relatives said, “Ration is just too little – 18 kg of wheat and 12 kg of rice. That's not enough for seven people. Just lasts 12 days.”
Moreover, the lack of jobs under Central government employment schemes is further aggravating the problem.
"Had he got work under MNREGA, they would have had money and she wouldn't have committed suicide," said Laxman's brother Balasahab.
Marathwada region of Maharashtra has been severely hit by three years of continuous droughts. This has resulted in an alarming rise of farmer suicides.
In 2014, the region witnessed the death of 574 farmer suicides, while more than 628 farmers have already killed themselves this year.
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