Farmer suicides are continuing unabated in Anantapuramu district. A joint fact- finding team of the Human Rights Forum (HRF) and Rythu Swarajya Vedika (RSV) visited 18 villages in nine mandals across all 3 revenue divisions in the district on June 27 and 28 and met families of 18 farmers who had died by suicide in recent years. The team gathered detailed information on the circumstances surrounding the deaths and the government’s response.
Our fact-finding revealed that G.O. 43, meant to provide relief and rehabilitation to families of farmers who took their own lives, remains completely unimplemented. Of the 18 families we visited, none had received financial assistance under the G.O. In several cases, even after official recognition that the deaths were genuine farmer suicides caused due to agrarian reasons as laid out in G.O. 43, the families have received no compensation or support at all. While nearly 160 farmers died by suicide in the undivided district from the beginning of 2024, not one family received the financial support as per the G.O.
While all the farmers we visited have lands of their own, most of them had to lease in land to supplement their meagre incomes. Farmers are cultivating highly risky and market-oriented cotton, chilli, tomato, groundnut, and other crops such as pigeon pea and castor, but lack of water availability, increasing temperatures and recurring pest attacks have resulted in repeated crop failures. The crop failure has been extremely pronounced in cotton and a variety of chilli known as Byadagi chilli. High input costs, including heavily priced seeds, coupled with lack of minimum or assured price is driving farmers to take loans from private lenders at steep interest rates, sometimes borrowing at 60 % per annum. Such distress borrowing is a telling comment on the reach of the mandated lending to the primary sector by banks. Crushed by huge losses and unable to withstand the pressure of mounting debts, many have been driven to suicide.
While this is the situation with the operational cost of farming, investment on land improvement is another tale in horror and unmitigated disaster. Every family we met had sunk lakhs of rupees in sinking multiple borewells, all to no avail. Going hundreds of feet beneath the surface has been no guarantee to strike water in this region. This has historically been the condition in Anantapuramu.
In Setturu mandal, for instance, there is no guarantee that borewells yield water even beyond a depth of 500 feet. There were farmers who spent a small fortune on digging at least 9 borewells, only to hit debt and not water. Farmers are forced to spend lakhs and fall into debt traps, often for borewells that fail. Additionally, severe pest attacks in recent years have led to decline in cotton and chilli yields. On top of this, market prices have collapsed, leaving farmers without any viable returns. The existing crop insurance scheme is deeply flawed and has routinely failed to compensate farmers for crop loss.
The implementation of G.O. 43 is abysmal. Of the 18 families we met, not one received the Rs 7 lakh ex gratia. In several cases, even after the three-member committee verified the suicides as farm-related and due to attendant distress, no compensation has been disbursed to date. However, none of the divisional-level three-member verification committee (RDO, DSP, ADA) has personally visited the affected families even though G.O. 43 clearly mandates that the RDO-led committee visit the village, gather details and forward proposals to the Collector within a week of the suicide.
Even at the mandal-level, the three-member committee (tahsildar, agriculture officer, sub-inspector) has failed to visit the families. Officials down the line like the revenue inspectors and village revenue officers are filing perfunctory and superficial reports without even meeting family members of the deceased. The plight of widows in these families is even more distressing – most of the 18 haven’t received widow pension till date.
The negligence is glaring in the case of a farmer (Rachepalli Ramanjaneyulu of Chintalacheruvu, Peddavaduguru mandal) who took his own life on 12-04-2025. No mandal-level official has bothered to go to his home. His wife has been paralysed for quite a few years now. She cannot even get out of bed without the help of another person. When we visited, his wife was lying on the bed unable to even get up. How does one, with even an ounce of humanity left in them, expect her to make rounds of various offices to get the ex-gratis that is due to her? This was a deeply distressing image to our team.
Another heart-wrenching case is that of Mamata of Upponka in Kalyanadurgam Mandal, whose husband died of suicide on 17.09.2024, which is almost two-and-a-half years ago. She is left with 3 girls- 6 -,4-, and 2-year-old- with no source of income, though the debt is hanging over her head. She had made numerous rounds of the MRO office to avail herself of the ex-gratia while carrying her third child and nothing has come out of it till date. The family today faces food insecurity, and their basic survival is at risk.
Right to Information (RTI) data and crime investigation records reveal nearly 700 farmer suicides in undivided Anantapuramu district over the last 12 years. While the government would want us to believe thatthere has been a wondrous transformation of the district through its support to horticulture, this figure is a grim indicator of the region’s deepening agrarian crisis. While an agro-ecological approach to farming is a must, the capacity of farmers to adopt to costly horticulture farming is missing in the self-congratulatory messages. The farm crisis extends beyond Anantapuramu with similar conditions prevailing across Andhra Pradesh.
Without further delay, the families, who are already devastated by loss, must receive the compensation and rehabilitation support they are rightfully owed.
Our Demands:
- The government must urgently awaken from its apathy, implement G.O. 43 sincerely and ensure comprehensive financial aid and rehabilitation for the families of farmers who have committed suicide.
- The RDO-headed divisional-level three-member verification committee must immediately visit affected families, complete the inquiry, and ensure prompt disbursal of financial assistance and rehabilitation support.
- Amend G.O. 43 to create a dedicated fund for one-time settlement of farm debts owed by affected families.
- The government has to adopt a scientific approach to borewell drilling and come up with a relevant policy in consultation with all stakeholders.
- The government must urgently adopt a suicide prevention strategy, including a State-wide helpline, based on a comprehensive study of high-risk suicide regions like Rayalaseema.
Details of families visited:
Kuderu mandal
1. Gutti Unnoorappa – Muddalapuram village, dt of death 11-07-2024
2. Muppavarapu Niranjan Kumar – Kadadarikunta, 11-04-2026
3. Manamala Govindu – Karutlapalli, 14-04-2026
4. Jerripothula Narayanappa- P. Naranayapuram, 26-03-2025
Atmakuru mandal
5. Harijana Kuntanna – P. Yaleru, 15-09-2025
6. Potte Naresh – Pumpanooru, 07-12-2024
Setturu mandal
7. Golla Govindappa – Yatakallu – 03-06-2025
Kalyanadurgam mandal
8. Toorpu Srikanth – Upponka, 17-09-20249. Bulli Yerrisamy – Borampalli, 02-02-2026
Beluguppa mandal
10. Kuruva Yerrisamy – Kaluvapalli, 17-06-2024
Anantapuramu Rural mandal
11. Allu Kesava Naidu – Sajjalakaluva, 10-03-2025
Garladinne mandal
12. Kuruva Sudarshan – Illuru, 18-10-2025
Peddavaduguru mandal
13. Illuri Seetharamudu – Miduthuru, 24-01-2025
14. Rachepalli Ramanjaneyulu – Chintalacheruvu, 12-04-2025
15. Valagonda Ramanjaneyulu – Muppallagutti, 07-04-2026
16. Nagendra – Krishtapadu, 11-05-2026
Pamidi mandal
17. Nagireddygari Mutyala Reddy – Ramarajupalle, 12-05-2026
18. Bellala Bala Nagendra Reddy – Neelalu, 05-05-2026
Fact-finding team:
B. Kondal – RSV AP State Committee member
Y. Rajesh – HRF AP State general secretary
B.N. Subbanna – HRF AP State secretary
G. Rohith – HRF AP State secretary
Sasanka Mouli – HRF Ananatapuramu District president
D. Satyam Babu – HRF Anantapuramu District general secretary
29-06-2026
Anantapuramu.