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Reinforce Loan Waiver Scheme to benefit all
Highlights
Maharashtra, which saw 2,568 highest number of farmer suicides in the country in 2014, seems that considerable decline is witnessed in suicides than 12,493 suicides, it recorded during the period 2006-08 and 6,745 suicides, it recorded during 1997-99 respectively
Maharashtra, which saw 2,568 highest number of farmer suicides in the country in 2014, seems that considerable decline is witnessed in suicides than 12,493 suicides, it recorded during the period 2006-08 and 6,745 suicides, it recorded during 1997-99 respectively, due to loan waiver and followed by 898 such decline suicides in Telangana and 826 suicides in Madhya Pradesh, 443 suicides in Chhattisgarh and 321 suicides in Karnataka, according National Crimes Record Bureau (NCRB).
The all-India total of 5,650 farmer suicides in 2014 reflects a fall in suicides compared to 2008, which saw highest number of 16,196 farmer suicides in India, which happens to be loan waiver year. But focusing on farmer suicides as a share of suicides in India is misleading. The all-India picture disguises the intensity. The devastation lies in the Big Five States or suicide belt include Maharashtra, Telangana, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Karnataka. Suicides rates of these five States together accounted for 89.5% of the total farmer suicides (5,056 out of 5,650) reported in the country during 2014.
Maharashtra remains the worst state in the nation for farmer suicides staggering with a total of 2568, accounted for 49.2% among the top five states. The National average of farm suicides stays at roughly one for every 42 minutes. Surprisingly, these high numbers are emerging within shrinking of farm population in Maharashtra and other states, as per 2011 population Census Maharashtra has 50% of urban population, its farmer base has certainly not grown. And the farm suicides have to come down heavily, but the broad trends reflect no significant change in farm suicides. From 2008 to 2014, they accounted for one out of every 10.
Loan Waiver
The main problem with Indian agriculture is of indebtedness, and small and marginal farmers are the people hit most badly by this crisis. Is loan waiver is ineffective for these farmers; not at all the idea of loan waiver is certainly a bad thing. Moreover, it was the right of every government to intervene, but specific actions were misguided. Yet it could also be argued that for the relief to the distress farmers, the waiver brought some cheers at least to some farmers, otherwise the suicides number could have been a lot worse.
The loan waiver year of 2008 under ‘Debt Waiver and Debt Relief’ scheme saw 16,196 farm suicides in India, according to the National Crime Records Bureau. There were no major changes in the trend that set in from the late 1990s and worsened after 2002. The dismal truth is that very high numbers of farm suicides still occur within a fast decreasing farm population.
It is pointed out that Loan waiver dealt only with bank credit and ignored private money lender’s debt. So only those farmers with access to institutional credit get benefited. The poor farmers in Telangana and Maharashtra and elsewhere usually get their loans mainly from private money lenders and did not get benefit much and the farmers who have bank account gained more like in Kerala, where every farmer has a bank account.
The main causes for suicides appear to be concentrated in the regions of high commercialisation of agriculture and high peasant debt. It is conspicuous that in the Big Five States, cash crop farmers seemed far more vulnerable to suicide than those growing food crops. Yet the basic underlying causes of the crisis have not been addressed so far.
The other reason is low productivity, which is the increasing cost and improper supply of inputs, which is the result of an under developed marketing network. Unless the farmers have an assured source of income, we can’t expect them to get out of this vicious circle of indebtedness.
The main causes are:
· Predatory commercialisation of the countryside.
· A massive decline in investment in Agriculture; the withdrawal of bank credit at a time of soaring input prices.
· The crash in farm incomes combined with an explosion of cultivation costs and shifting of millions from food crops to cash crops cultivation with its high risks.
· The hijack by big corporate of every major sector of agriculture including and especially, seed.
· Growing water stress and move towards privatisation of that source.
· Not remunerative Minimum Support Price (MSP) and improper marketing facilities.
· Deficit of rains and decreasing yield.
Coming to Telangana, though the state received good spells of rains in last three weeks of September, this is not a good news for farming community, since the rains ultimately helped to improve the water levels in major reservoirs of the State compared to pathetic conditions prevailed earlier. These rains have helped the farming community neither Kharif season nor Rabi season, as the rains received lately as the time for cultivation of crops and other crops have already been lapsed.
Moreover, these rains are just not sufficient to even Rabi season also, the overall situation in the state appears to be grim with deficit of rainfall compared to normal rainfall of the State. In fact, these rains have not helpful for declaring a drought since these rains brings down the deficit of rainfall, which is key factor for declaring drought – affected area to extend relief measures to farming community, resulting in farming community to forgo input subsidy and compensation from crop loss.
At the juncture, the government should help the vulnerable farming community at large by increasing government subsidies, so that they will get a higher yield and better price for their produce along with storage facilities and providing bank credit without interest. It is high time that Government policies should stress upon increasing the productivity in agriculture so that the farmers are able to generate enough income to repay their loans. The loans of all the affected families should be rescheduled. The families whose loans are rescheduled should be eligible for fresh loans.
G. Rajendera Kumar
The author is Deputy Statistical Officer, Planning Department in Telangana State.
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