PSYCHO-SOCIAL ASPECTS OF AGRARIAN CRISIS OF FARMER’S OF VILLAGE ASADPUR, SONIPAT, HARYANA

ABSTRACT

The abrupt rainfalls and draughts are like trauma for farmers and such things may result into end of life by a farmer which is the biggest crises. Not only the psychological state of an individual,  but the degree to which a farmer is integrated into society is also an important aspect in understanding agrarian crisis. The social status, no. of family members (particularly, females), caste and the social norms creates an additional pressure on the farmer. Recently 40%  of the Rabi crop has been destroyed by rainfalls and newspaper invariably has a news related to farmer’s suicide. So we considered both psychological and social aspects of agrarian crisis to be studied in our research. The psycho-social aspects of agrarian crisis comes out as loss of hope and identity in farming, loss of respect for farmers, unhealthy coping styles in stress, changes in whether results in anxiety and governmental policies are precipitating factor of distress among farmers. The social factors are number of family members, expenditure in marriages according to social status, medical expenses, school fees expenses as they are sending their children to private schools, lack of awareness of institutional rules and regulations of institutions like banks and lack of knowledge of technological advancement in rural areas. We salute the spirit of farmers who despite of crisis convey a message to work hard and stay happy, to have patience and belief in God which shows that our farmers are resilient to work in adverse situation.

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