'Loan waiver not a solution to agrarian crisis'
Ramon Magsaysay Awardee and noted journalist P Sainath on Saturday said the Centre's loan waiver scheme was not a solution to the agrarian crisis and it covered only a small portion of debt-ridden farmers.
By PTI |
CHENNAI: Ramon Magsaysay Awardee and noted journalist P Sainath on Saturday said the Centre's loan waiver scheme was not a solution to the agrarian crisis and it covered only a small portion of debt-ridden farmers.
"Majority of the farmers owe money to informal money lenders and a new breed of informal credit groups, which supply pesticides, fertilizers and seeds, had emerged in the country side. With institutional credit system failing to deliver, a lot of pressure is on the farmers to go for informal credits," Sainath said delivering the Nani Palkhivala memorial lecture on 'Is the loan waiver a solution for the agrarian crisis'.
He said decline in investment in agriculture and shrinking of credit had compelled the farmers to give up farming. Between 1991 and 2001, about 80 lakh people had abandoned farming and farm indebtness had increased from 26 per cent to 48 per cent.
"There is nothing historic or unprecedent about the loan waiver as said by the Finance Minister. Even the colonial raj had introduced debt waiver scheme for the farmers. The only newness of the farm loan waiver is that it is being done much worse than done in 1934 and 37," he said.
Sainath said there was nothing great in the loan waiver scheme for the farmers as each government had written off crores of rupees 'for the benefit of handful of industrialists.'
"Majority of the farmers owe money to informal money lenders and a new breed of informal credit groups, which supply pesticides, fertilizers and seeds, had emerged in the country side. With institutional credit system failing to deliver, a lot of pressure is on the farmers to go for informal credits," Sainath said delivering the Nani Palkhivala memorial lecture on 'Is the loan waiver a solution for the agrarian crisis'.
He said decline in investment in agriculture and shrinking of credit had compelled the farmers to give up farming. Between 1991 and 2001, about 80 lakh people had abandoned farming and farm indebtness had increased from 26 per cent to 48 per cent.
"There is nothing historic or unprecedent about the loan waiver as said by the Finance Minister. Even the colonial raj had introduced debt waiver scheme for the farmers. The only newness of the farm loan waiver is that it is being done much worse than done in 1934 and 37," he said.
Sainath said there was nothing great in the loan waiver scheme for the farmers as each government had written off crores of rupees 'for the benefit of handful of industrialists.'
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