The spate of farmer's suicides in different parts of country is ascri…

The correct answer is Option (1) → (B), (D), (E) only

(A) No rainfall Incorrect. Failure of rain is a natural disaster, not a structural change or a change in policy. Natural disasters do ruin crops and add to the farmers’ debt, but the question asks for the changes in the structure of agriculture and in policies.

(B) Changed pattern of landholding Correct. The agrarian distress behind the suicides is linked to structural changes in agriculture, and the first of them is the changed pattern of landholdings.

(C) Less number of farm helping hands/workers Incorrect. A shortage of workers is not one of the changes behind the distress. The causes are on the side of land, crops, costs and policy: high-cost inputs, the withdrawal of the State from agricultural extension and the decline in state support.

(D) Shift to cash crops Correct. Changing cropping patterns, especially the shift to cash crops, made farmers depend on expensive inputs and unstable markets.

(E) Individualization of agricultural operations Correct. The individualisation of agricultural operations left each farmer to bear the costs and risks alone, and it closes the list of causes of the distress.