DAILY tormented by local money-lenders whom he owed a huge amount of money, Gajendra Singh, a peasant of Sherbhukha village under Maner block, just 25 km away from Bihar capital Patna, committed suicide on April 26. When a team of CPI (M) Bihar State Committee visited the village and spoke to the grieving widow and other family members of Gajendra Singh, the story that unfolded brought out the real agony of the peasants and the economic hardship they face in their day-to-day life. From a visit to his house, it's very difficult to believe that Singh was poor and financially-distressed. Sacks full of grains were stacked in his house. There was little space to stand for the visiting team members. But amidst all this plenty, he is no more. What is the cause behind this? Why a peasant was driven to death when he was able to produce grains in abundant? As we looked deeper, the causes became clearer. Singh owned only 10 kathas of land. But he cultivated on 18 bighas of land. For this, he paid Rs 8,000 per bigha to the land owner. After that he put his resources to produce grains for the whole year. With all the farm work involved in the process -- hiring of labourers, buying seeds, irrigating land and other related works -- need lots of investment, he borrowed a huge sum from the local money-lenders at exorbitant rates of interest. Singh had no access to institutional loan at lower interest rate. If the nature is in the side of the peasant, he can hope of a good harvest. But the nature can also spoil his plan. Even if he gets bumper yield there is the problem of market where he can get a good return for his produce. But no such market exists. The government agencies will not buy grains from peasant like Singh as he does not possess the land records in his name. So what will he do? He can sell his produce in the open market which will fetch him little money compared to his huge investment. After the good harvest, the money lenders will come daily knocking on his door and he will have to face the humiliation before his family members. He is alone in this battle. There is no organisation to fall upon. No sympathetic words from the fellow villagers who are facing the same situation. Amid the hardship and harassment, 40-year-old Singh poisoned himself to death leaving behind a widow and two young children. Singh represents the large number of faceless peasants of Bihar who are caught between life and death. The tales of their agony do not end here. The blank look on the children's faces reflect their utter helplessness at the turn of events that swallowed their loving father. But will the meager compensation after the death of a peasant solve the crisis that has engulfed the entire agrarian economy? The dramatic death of Gajendra Singh, a farmer from Rajasthan, at Jantar Mantar in the heart of the national capital and the suicide of Singh near Patna bring to the fore the long term neglect of the agricultural sector which feeds the nation but remains outside the vision of national development. The death of Gajendra Singh in Bihar is a wake-up call for the Nitish Kumar government to take a hard look at the changes in the nature of contract farming in the state and take appropriate steps to register these contract farmers so that they are entitled to sell their produce to government agencies, get institutional loan and if their crops get destroyed, they get adequate compensation. But this expectation is too much from Nitish Kumar, who has dumped the Bandhyopadhayay Commission report in the dustbin and stopped talking about land reform. After visiting the Sherbhukha village, CPI(M) has demanded that government pay all the debts owed by Gajendra Singh, 10 lakh compensation to his family members, bear educational expenses of the two children and provide a government job to the widow. Bihar State Kisan Sabha, along with other Left peasant organisations, has decided to organise district-level convention from 15 to 20 May and stage demonstrations at district headquarters raising the issues of large-scale devastation caused by recent tornado and earthquakes and the death of Gajendra Singh. The CPI(M) team that visited Singh's family was led by state secretary Awadesh Kumar and included Party Central Committee member Vijay Kant Thakur, state secretariat members Arun Mishra and Lalan Choudhary, and Patna District Secretary Manoj Kumar.