Government should waive farm loans and open exclusive banks for farmers on lines of the women’s bank, to help tide over the agrarian crisis facing the country, Opposition parties demanded in Rajya Sabha on Friday.
A JD(U) member also wanted the two major parties -- BJP and Congress, to join hands to implement the recommendations of the M S Swaminathan Committee to provide much-needed succour to farmers, if they can do so on allowing FDI in insurance and corporate globalisation.
Resuming discussion on agrarian crisis and suicide by a farmer at a political rally in national capital earlier this week, Naresh Agrawal (SP) said the government should show large-heartedness to help farmers who have been hit by the vagaries of weather.
Crop insurance, he said, should be a responsibility of the Centre and state governments and Food Corporation of India (FCI) should procure all foodgrain, irrespective of quality, brought by farmers.
“Loan waiver will not be a big favour to farmers...previously it was done keeping elections in mind, this time it should be done keeping farmers in mind,” he said.
Stating that bad debt or non-performing assets (NPAs) of banks have risen from 2 per cent of all loans to 6 per cent, he said industrialists and not farmers are responsible for this increase.
“Please announce (the formation of) a Kisan Bank which will provide loan to farmers at 1-2 per cent interest rate,” he said recalling how the government had formed Mahila Bank.
Stating that a solution needs to be found to the crisis, he demanded that Prime Minister Narendra Modi should reply to the debate on the issue.
K C Tyagi (JD-U) said Gajender’s suicide was “a sacrifice for the cause of farmers of the entire nation” and held various ministries responsible for their current plight.
He said if both the BJP and Congress can get together on insurance and corporation globalisation, “why can’t they join hands to implement the M.S. Swaminathan Commission report on farmers.”
Tyagi said while the salaries of government employees and teachers and those in private jobs have risen manifold in the last four decades, the return for farmers has not. He also demanded a special session of Parliament to discuss the issue of rural indebtedness and finding a solution to the farmers problems.
Agrawal said the Uttar Pradesh government had assessed loss due to unseasonal rains and hailstrom at Rs. 6700 crore but the Centre has provided only Rs 231 crore. The state government has provided Rs. 1100 crore and the Centre should bear at least half of the loss, the SP member said.
He also pointed out that only Rs. 1.69 crore has been given by insurance companies for the damage even though the total insured value was Rs. 2,000 crore and added that the state government was providing a compensation of Rs. 7 lakh to families of farmers who have committed sucide.
FCI, he claimed, was turning away 70 per cent of the farmers on pretext of quality of wheat even after Food Minister Ram Vilas Paswan announced that all foodgrain brought to procurement centres will be bought. He also sought immediate steps to deal with the scarcity of godowns.
Maintaining that over Rs. 19,000 crore was due to sugarcane farmers, he said a policy must be devised to safeguard the interest of farmers and also the sugar mills and demanded imposition of higher duty on sugar imports.
Defending the government, Bhupender Yadav (BJP) said the NDA government has eased norms for payment of compensation to farmers if their crop is hit by natural disasters and the compensation rates have also been raised. He also said the government has launched soil health cards to improve crop productivity.
On the land acquisition bill, he said while permission of just one authority was needed to construct a house in urban area, the 2013 bill provided for permission from 80 per cent of the population in case roads, infrastructure or irrigation project are to be built in rural areas. “This will not be in the interest of development.”
Yadav also took potshots at Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), at whose rally a farmer committed suicide, saying their actions have been at variance with what have been preaching.
“The party which talked of Lokpal removed its own Lokpal after coming to power... the party which talks of aam admi continued with political speech even after the suicide by the farmer,” he said and demanded a probe into the farmer’s suicide.
