12 farm suicides in four days in Vidarbha despite loan waiver
Nagpur, Aug 16 : An unprecedented Rs.710 billion loan waiver has not stopped farm
suicides in Vidarbha of Maharashtra with 12 such cases being reported in different parts
of the region in the four days till the Independence Day.
Four suicides have occurred in Buldana, three in Amravati besides two in Yavatmal and
one in Akola district of western Vidarbha whereas one each has been reported from
Chandrapur and Wardha districts of southern Vidarbha, Vidarbha Jan Andolan Samiti
president Kishor Tiwari has said.
Referring to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's Independence Day speech highlighting the
United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government's priority to the agrarian sector and his
appeal to the state governments to strengthen the public distribution system, Tiwari says
in a letter to Manmohan Singh that though the reference was as impressive as the loan
waiver, the measures have not as yet succeeded fully.
"The loan waiver largely remains on the paper because of the fund crunch being faced by
the district central cooperative banks," Tiwari told IANS adding that over a month-long
dry spell in Vidarbha from the second half of June has forced many of them to do re-sowing
and allied farm operations twice or thrice.
The relief announced by the state government to cover the farmers' extra costs due to
re-sowing is woefully inadequate and that too is yet to be distributed, he pointed
out.
"The farmers were also badly stressed because of the inadequate or spurious supply of
fertilizers, particularly di-ammonium phosphate (DAP), and such factors combined with the
state government's illogical eligibility criteria for the loan waiver and fresh credit and
procedural delays drove farmers to private moneylenders again, making nonsense of the
'whopping' loan waiver and a fresh credit plan of the government that has dazzled the
world," Tiwari said.
The latest 12 suicides have taken this year's toll in Vidarbha to 534, Tiwari said,
quoting from the figures available on the state government website.
Yavatmal district collector Sanjay Deshmukh, however, contested the claims of the VJAS
leader and pointed out that over Rs.1.30 billion worth fresh loans have so far been
extended to farmers in the district, a big chunk of which came from the district
cooperative bank (DCC).
"Even the nationalized banks have given loans to farmers who presented no-objection
certificates from the DCC branches that were unable to advance loan," Deshmukh told
IANS.
Supporting Deshmukh, the Maharashtra government's Principal Secretary (Cooperatives)
Sudhir Goyal told IANS that NABARD had provided enough funds to the Maharashtra State
Cooperative Bank to help the cash-strapped DCCs.
-- IANS
