Amidst the din of election slogans and the chaos of campaign rallies in Dharashiv, Marathwada, Megha Kulkarni stands motionless, her hands trembling as she clutches the sacks of harvested soybeans. Her face, etched with lines of worry and exhaustion, tells a story far removed from the promises and politics swirling around her. She cares little for the political battles being fought in the streets. For her, there is only one battle: the fight for survival.

Soya prices at the local APMC mandi have plummeted to a mere ₹4,150 per quintal, far beneath the Minimum Support Price (MSP) of ₹4,892 that she had once pinned her hopes on for the 2024-25 season. Her dreams of a fair return on her hard work are slipping further away as the harsh reality of low market prices tightens its grip around her.

This is a nightmare she knows all too well – one that has already claimed the life of her husband, Ramesh, in 2017. He had struggled for months, drowning in debt, unable to cover his costs from the meagre earnings of his soyabean harvest and the unpaid wages from his job as a watchman. Despairing, he took his own life, his death a tragic symbol of the crushing weight of agrarian distress.

Now, standing in the same situation, Megha feels the familiar, suffocating panic closing in. The cycle of poverty and hopelessness is threatening to repeat itself, and with each passing day, it feels more inevitable. The election promises echo through the air, but for Megha, they are just hollow words. For her, there is no hope in politics, no salvation in the broken promises of those who have long ignored the cries of farmers like her. She is staring down the same bleak road her husband once walked, and the fear of history repeating itself is more real than ever.

Farmer suicides continue

As the cacophony of election promises fills the air across Maharashtra, which will vote on the 20th of this month, offering relief and hope to farmers, the grim reality remains painfully clear for those like Megha. In the last nine months alone, 1,933 farmers in the state have tragically ended their lives, victims of an unrelenting agrarian crisis that shows no sign of abating. The numbers speak volumes: In 2023, 2,851 farmers took their lives; in 2022, the toll was 2,942; and in 2021, 2,743 debt-ridden farmers fell to the same tragic fate.

Despite the flood of political promises, including loan waivers, fund allocation, and financial help for farmers pouring out of every party manifesto, Megha, like so many others, sees things through hollow words. For her, these promises are empty rhetoric, as dry and lifeless as the parched lands of Marathwada, where the agrarian crisis has taken root and refuses to let go. “Their promises are as dry as the soil in this region,” she says, her voice tinged with both anger and anguish.

Nothing changes

“We’ve heard it all before. But nothing ever changes. This year soya crop was inundated in water and we didn’t get any insurance or help from the government. Whatever harvested soya is left, we are not getting appropriate price. Be it any government, our situation is not going to change,” other farmers echo her sentiments.

“The government has shackled farmers with a web of laws, stripping them of their freedom,” says activist Amar Habib. “They care only about the consumers, but not a single thought is given to the farmers who are dying on the ground. The state has turned a blind eye to the suffering, to the lives lost in the grip of an unrelenting agrarian crisis.”

He added, “Every government, regardless of its promises, has abandoned us. They have imposed restrictions that tighten the noose around our necks, pushing farmers to the brink. And yet, no one seems to care. No one is listening as farmers fall to their deaths.”

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