Farmers give thumbs down to FM's loan waiver | QOTD

NO RELIEF FOR FARMERS: Caught in a debt trap, 1 lakh Bundelkhand farmers are demanding better infrastructure.

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Suhasini Haidar

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Bundelkhand: A four-year-long drought , more than 200 farmer deaths and 1 lakh other farmers battling the debt trap — one would have believed that the Finance Minister's Rs 60,000 crore bonanza would be a super hit in Bundelkhand, but the farmers there are untouched.

A farmer, Gauri Shankar Bidua says, "The loan waiver is only for the small and marginal farmer who has less than five acres of land. They in any case are not given a bank loan — except for the Kisan Credit Card. Those who have tractor loans and such are exempted from this waiver."

Shanti Devi owned only a patch of one acre land. Since the collateral was too little, the bank loan was refused. Shanti went to the local money lender and the Rs 10,000 loan that she took from him has ended up costing her the only source of livelihood that she had — the land itself.

"I had taken Rs 10,000 from the money lender at 10 per cent per month. He has taken away my land," says the distraught woman.

Like Shanti, Ramkali too fell prey to a money lender after taking a loan from him to repay a bank installment. The bank loan waiver now means little to her.

"Even if we sell ourselves, this loan won't finish. Now that everything is gone we are reduced to being daily wage labourers," says Ramkali.

Villager after villager, village after village — they all have the same story.

A farmer, Sajjan Kushwaha says, "With this waiver, the bank loan is gone all right, but the loan I have from the money lender is now three-fold. What do I do?"

The trap of the money lender is something even the administration acknowledges.

Jhansi District Magistrate, Rajeev Aggarwal says, "There are problems associated with money lenders. It's a reality and we are trying to find a way out."

The Finance Minister has promised a 25 per cent, one time waiver on the loans of big farmers too, but even they are unhappy.

The wells have dried up, the canals that were built to showcase the Government's seriousness only carry dust now with no means to water their field, farmers in Bundelkhand region have lost their means of livelihood.

The National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme has ensured some income to a few villages, but clearly that's not enough.

No irrigation facilities and no rain means even the last few standing crop in Bundelkhand are now dying and may be that's what makes the farmers in this region skeptical.

The common refrain here is that had the Government really been serious about the farmer's well being, efforts would have been made to improve rural infrastructure and income generators instead of populist measures like loan waivers.