Choice that’s freely available: Suicide

Kulwinder Sandhu     

 Tribune News Service

moga, January 21    

Does a farmer committing suicide primarily depend on the area of his landholding? So, if one owns less than 5 acres, do chances of going down that path rise proportionately?

Jarnail Singh Gill (67) finds no reason to disagree. He and his wife Gian Kaur (63) live on the outskirts of Ghal Kalan village in their fields, 7 km from the district headquarters of Moga.

With 2 acres to its name, the Gill family eked out a living but never entertained the thought of giving up. That changed after their daughter-in-law Veer Pal Kaur was diagnosed with brain cancer. She died on September 13 last year, aged 35. The family was left with Rs 5 lakh to repay their relatives.

Their son Balwinder Singh (36) went into depression. The loss of his wife was the obvious trigger, but there was the tension of repayment too. Exactly a month after his wife’s death, he consumed poison. Left behind are the grandparents and Ashpreet Singh (14), a class 9 student of a government school.

The police took the body, found outside the house, for a post-mortem examination and initiated inquest proceedings, but the family has not been told of the findings.

The school-going grandson is off to visit his maternal grandfather, who lives with his wife at Rajeana village, about 22 km from Moga. Veer Pal Kaur was their only child.

A few activists of the farmers’ unions assured to take up the couple’s case for monetary compensation with the district administration, but nothing came out of it. 

As the old man gets up to show his fields outside their house, the wheat plants are engulfed with weeds compared to the healthy crop in the adjoining plots.

Jarnail Singh says he does not have the money to spray the recommended doses of fertilisers and pesticides, which will affect the wheat yield. “The priority before me is to educate my grandson. It is a big challenge and I will put in all my resources on his education. He is the only one left.” And the debt. 

There are also difficult questions: why did Balwinder have to end his life? Why was no effort made to help him come out of depression? Or are these questions simply too uncharitable to be asked?

Jarnail Singh and Gian Kaur, meanwhile, have a life to lead. A difficult one, with little else but hope.