Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Thursday drew the attention of the Central government to the ‘terrible plight’ of farmers in Kerala
Raising the issue in the Lok Sabha, Mr. Gandhi said a farmer in Wayanad, from where he was elected to the lower house of Parliament, committed suicide on Wednesday due to his debt.
“In Wayanad alone bank notices for non-payment of loans have been given to almost 8,000 farmers. The farmers are facing threat of immediate eviction. Their properties are attached.... This is resulting in a spate of farmer suicides,” Mr. Gandhi said.
The Securitisation and Reconstruction of Financial Assets and Enforcement of Securities Interest Act, 2002 (also known as SARFAESI Act) allows banks and other financial institution to auction residential or commercial properties of loan defaulters.
18 suicide cases
In Kerala alone, Mr. Gandhi said, 18 farmers had committed suicide since banks began their recovery procedures one-and-a-half years ago. The Central government was refusing to direct the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to consider a moratorium on loan recovery and get it implemented.
“I would request the Central government to direct the RBI to consider the moratorium declared by the Kerala government and ensure that the banks don’t threaten the farmers with recovery notice,” he said. Pointing out that farmers were suffering throughout the country, he expressed unhappiness over the Union Budget 2019-20 not taking ‘concrete’ steps to provide relief to the farmers and requested the Central government to fulfil the commitments made by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Mr. Gandhi accused the Centre of neglecting the farmers by giving them only ₹4.3 lakh crore in tax concessions compared to ‘rich businessmen’ who, he alleged, had got a loan waiver of ₹5.5 lakh crore.
‘Double standard’
“Why is this shameful double standard? Why does the government act as if our farmers are inferior to the rich?” He went on: “The Prime Minister made certain commitments five years ago to the farmers on prices and farm loans. As there is a terrible situation for the farmers in this country, I would request the government to fulfil these commitments. I was sad to see that no concrete step was taken in this budget to provide relief to the farmers.”
