The loan waiver is too little, too disappointing and do not Address major problems : Points made by Shri M Venkaiah Naidu, Former President, BJP

The Indian agriculture is facing multi dimensional challenge both from within and outside. The agrarian crisis is spreading and the farmer’s indebtedness is rising thus posing a grave challenge to nation’s agri sector and also to the food security. The farmers across the country are depressed and angry as they feel let down by the UPA government.

Since the announcement of the so-called loan waiver scheme, more than 200 farmers in Maharashtra and nearly 110 farmers in Andhra Pradesh have committed suicide. This presents the pathetic condition of the farmers. The illogical and un-realistic loan waiver scheme announced with much fan-fare did not provide relief to all the needy farmers. The irony is that, of the 200 farmers committed suicide in Maharashtra, only 18 farmers are declared eligible.

The farmers who have got more than five (5) acre holding are upset as the loan waiver policy of the central government do not make them eligible for relief. The reality remains that many of the farmers who have committed suicide owned more than 5 acres. And, the Central government conveniently ignored the fact that 10 acres of dry land or non-irrigated land is equal to two and a half acres of wet land. Further if a small farmer takes another 3 acres of land on lease, he is not eligible for loan waiver facility. The problems of such farmers are not being addressed.

Apart from this, cultivators belonging to joint families are in disarray because the lands are not registered in their individual names. The collective land holding will obviously be more than five acres and hence are not eligible for loan waiver scheme.

Majority farmers are borrowing money from private money lenders and do not get any relief from this scheme. Migration of loans from private money lenders to institutional loans is not being pursued with the vigour required. Some of the State governments including Congress governments have placed this demand before the Union government. The Finance Minister has agreed in principle for migration of loans but no concrete step has been taken with regard to its implementation.

Unfortunately, the Union government is also silent on the universal demand of farmers on reducing interest rate on loans to four (4%) per cent.

The farmers who are repaying bank loans promptly are disheartened as no incentive is being provided to them. The issue of incentive for prompt repayment by farmers should be addressed at the earliest.

Because of early monsoon, the agricultural activity started early and the farmers need credit facility immediately. But the process of loan waiver is taking too much of time and the banks have stopped giving fresh loans forcing farmers to untold sufferings. As a result, large section of the farmers would not be able to get relief in this Kharif season.

The co-operative banks have very little funds. Unless the Center reimburses the entire amount at one go to the co-operative banks, they will not be able to perform. Co-operative banks and RRBs are the principle sources of money in rural India.

According to its own report, the Union government is not able to direct the nationalized banks to fulfill the mandatory 18 per cent credit for agriculture sector. The All India Debt and Investment Survey (NSS- Fifty Ninth Round) reveals the share of institutional loan meant for the rural households declined in the recent years by more than 8 per cent. Contrary to this, the share of the private moneylenders has increased by 12 per cent.

Even according to RBI report on Trend and Progress of Banking in India, the credit to agriculture and allied activities in the recent years had come down to around 12 per cent. That means, majority of the farmers are borrowing money from private money lenders. This speaks about the need for migration of the private loans to institutional loans to address the core issue of rural discontentment.

The BJP demands extension of loan waiver scheme to all farmers up to a limit of Rs 50,000, irrespective of their land holding, It also demands that the two hectare cut off rule should be relaxed not only in DPAP districts but in all dry land areas across the country.

FERTILIZER CRISIS

The shortage in fertilizers across the country is a result of lack of foresight and proper planning on the part of Union government. It shows that the UPA government has no concern for the farmer. The non- availability of fertilizers has compounded the problems of the farming community.

The Union government has utterly failed in making available the required fertilizers to the states. As a result, the farmers are resorting to protests across the country but the UPA government is sleeping as usual. According to the industry the government’s failure to announce the pricing and freight policy is mainly responsible for the present situation. The shortage in fertilizer supply is due to uncertainties in the union government subsidy policies. Reports suggests in many states that shortage in fertilizer supply is resulting in black market and also creating panicky among the farmers. The government should immediately come out with the fertilizer price policy. Otherwise, the country will be forced to a major fertilizer crisis similar to the mismanagement of food grains that resulted in threat to nation’s food security.

In Karnataka, during the Governor’s rule, enough care was not taken to pursue the issue of fertilizer requirement with Government of India. It did not make timely availability of fertilizers.

(Shyam Jaju)
Headquarter Incharge