Why state farmers seem unhappy with govt’s debtwaiver scheme
The state govt is facing a deep financial crunch due to which it is not able to cover all farmers in one go
CHANDIGARH: In the run-up to the assembly polls in January last year, Capt Amarinder Singh as chief ministerial candidate of the Congress made a lofty promise of waiving the entire debt of state farmers.
During his campaign, he would make farmers fill claims forms in which they would be asked to disclose the debt amount and would send them messages on their mobile phones to reaffirm his promise. The Congress used the slogan “karza, kurki khatam, fasal di puree rakam” (End to debt, recovery and full payment for crops) to woo farmers during its campaign.
After coming to power, the Congress government in its first cabinet meeting took a policy decision on farm debt waiver and in June the CM announced in the Vidhan Sabha to waive up to ₹2 lakh loan of the state’s marginal and small farmers. It took the government six months to roll out the policy.
Here is a 360-degree look to find out why farmers are not happy with the implementation. based on the recommendations of the T Haque panel. Haque suggested to waive debt up to ₹2 lakh for small and marginal farmers. With this, the government proposed to cover nearly 10 lakh farmers with a total debt waiver of ₹9,500 to ₹10,000 crore.
lakh even if the outstanding amount is more. lakh in the marginal category have been finalised to avail ₹780 crore waiver.
Arranging funds for waiver is a big issue for the government which is using rural development funds collected from sale of agricultural products for the debt-waiver scheme.