Saturday, May 24, 2008
'New vidarbha farm loan waiver scheme not good enough'
Saturday, May 24, 2008
RAISING THE LIMIT
'New loan waiver scheme not good enough'
Prafulla Marpakwar I TNN
Mumbai: Even as chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh on Friday welcomed finance minister P Chidambaram's amended loan waiver scheme, farmers' leader Kishore Tiwari said that with the meagre financial assistance, the Centre would not be able to tackle the agrarian crisis in the backward Vidarbha region.
On Friday, the Union cabinet removed the ceiling on land holding for farmers and provided a debt relief of 25% of the outstanding loan or Rs 20,000 whichever is higher.
"We are awaiting written instructions from the Centre on the new loan waiver scheme. Once we get the same, we will be able to analyse the situation. Prima facie it appears that the amended scheme will certainly help tackle the agrarian crisis,'' Deshmukh told TOI on Friday.
Soon after the Centre had declared the loan waiver scheme for farmers holding land up to 5 acres, Deshmukh had taken up the matter with Chidambaram saying that five acres of irrigated land may be equated with 15 acres of non-irrigated land or without changing the holding criteria, a monetary limit of Rs 50,000 for waiver of agricultural loan of all dry land farmers irrespective of land holding may be prescribed. Deshmukh had said that if such a decision was taken, it would benefit at least 90% of the farmers having nonirrigated agricultural holdings.
However, Tiwari said the Centre should have accepted Deshmukh's plea in toto. "We are not happy with the decision. There should have been a complete loan waiver for farmers with up to 15 acres of land,'' Tiwari said.
Tiwari, who had taken up the issue of farmers' suicides in six districts(I��(BAmravati, Wardha, Akola, Washim, Buldhana and Yeotmal(I��(Bof the backward Vidarbha region, said the farmers in the region had absolutely no money and even if the Centre was waiving 25% of the outstanding loan amount, the farmer was not in a position to repay the remaining amount. "Our demand was of a complete loan waiver, which has not been accepted by the Centre,'' Tiwari said.
A senior Congress minister said that following the large number of suicides, PM Manmohan Singh visited the affected areas and asked his government to formulate a loan waiver scheme. "It was therefore expected that the Centre would draft the scheme keeping in mind the six districts of the Vidarbha region. However, when the scheme was presented before the Cabinet on Friday, there was nothing special for the Vidarbha region,'' the minister said.
He added that even after the amendment of the scheme, out of 12 lakh farmers in distress in the six districts, less than five lakh farmers would be benefited. The total outstanding loan against the 12 lakh farmers is Rs 1333.42 crore.
Meanwhile, a senior government official said it would take at least 15 days to work out the action plan for implementing the loan waiver scheme. "Earlier, the instructions were for loan waiver for farmers with up to five acres of land. Now the ceiling has been removed. In view of the revised instructions, the cooperative and nationalised banks will have to give the state government the status of outstanding loans against the farmers,'' the official said.
------------------------------------------------
----------------------------------------------------
"Complete loan waiver needed"
National
"Complete loan waiver needed"
Special Correspondent
http://www.hindu.com/2008/05/24/stories/2008052454301000.htm
Enhanced funding for loan waiver will not work: Vidarbha farmers
"Government has intentionally limited scope"
"We have been demanding minimum food security, health care and rural employment or direct subsidy to distressed farmers to check the suicides but nobody is ready to even look at these demands," Mr. Tiwari said.
MUMBAI: Union Finance Minister P. Chidambaram's announcement of expanding the farmers' loan waiver from Rs. 60,000 crore to Rs. 71,000 crore will not help the three million suicide-prone cotton growers of Vidharbha and therefore, complete loan waiver is needed, the Vidharbha Jan Andolan Samiti has said.
The enhanced funding for the loan waiver would not work since the two hector cap and the cut of date had not been extended. The farmers who would not be covered by the loan waiver would continue to be in financial burden , Samiti leader Kishor Tiwari said in a statement on Friday.
"In fact there has been a sudden rise in farm suicides among the Vidharbha cotton growers after the loan waiver announcement, since majority of the farmers hold more than two hectors and hence their farm loans do not get written off," he said.
The Union government, he added, did not consider the Maharashtra government's proposal and Rahul Gandhi's suggestion of expanding the loan waiver to cover the dry-land farmers of Vidharbha and Andhra Pradesh.
He alleged that the government intentionally limited the scope so that the farm waiver could benefit prosperous farmers of Western Maharashtra. "We have been demanding minimum food security, health care and rural employment or direct subsidy to distressed farmers to check the suicides but nobody is ready to even look at these demands," Mr. Tiwari said.
He urged the UPA government to write off completely the cotton growers' debts, restore advance bonus and pay the price of Rs. 2,700 per quintal as promised in the UPA manifesto.
© Copyright 2000 - 2008 The Hindu
Subject: Nothing in it for us: Vidarbha farmers on loan waiver enhancement-business-standard reports
BS Reporter / Mumbai May 24, 2008, 0:28 IST
http://www.business-standard.com/common/news_article.php?leftnm=3&subLeft=1&chklogin=N&autono=323950&tab=r
Enhancement of loan waiver package to Rs 71,000 crore is not going to help the farmers from the suicide stricken six cotton growing districts from Vidarbha as the move fails to meet the basic demand of the region's farmers that the qualifying area of landholdings should be increased from 2 hectares and the cut-off date for becoming eligible for the package be extended, said president of Vidarbha Jan Andolan Samiti (VJAS) Kishore Tiwari.
In a press release issued by VJIAS, Tiwari alleged that it was common knowledge that landholdings were bigger in dryland areas like Vidarbha and Bundelkhand. But despite many NGOs and political parties highlighting the need for increasing the limit of landholding for dryland areas, and even Congress President Sonia Gandhi and General Secretary Rahul Gandhi admitting the need for doing so, the government failed to take this much-needed step. "This clearly shows the bias of the whole system against the dryland farmers," he said.
He also alleged that "since farmers from Western Maharashtra, which is a stronghold of NCP president and Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar, had benefited most from the package, Pawar is simply neglecting the plight of dry land farmers".
Demanding that cotton farmers from Vidarbha should be given complete loan waiver irrespective of their landholdings, Tiwari said that "as promised in the election manifesto by the Congress and NCP in 2004, the Democratic Front government in the state should immediately announce Rs 2,700 per quintal minimum support price (MSP) for cotton".
The state government should also immediately set up a regulatory mechanism to ensure farmers get quality seeds at affordable rates, so that they are not taken for a ride by the seed companies, the press release added.
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
Spend revenue from IPL finals for farmers' widows: VJAS
News From Webindia123.com
Spend revenue from IPL finals for farmers' widows: VJAS
News From Webindia123.com
The entire revenue from the final match of the Indian Premier League (IPL)-- to be played on June 1-- should be spent among the widows of the farmers, who had committed suicides in the Vidarbha region of Maharashtra, the Vidarbha Jan Andolan Samiti (VJAS), a voluntary organisation working among farmers in the region, demanded today.
The money should be used to educate the children of the dead farmers, help their aged parents and also used for the marriage of their daughters, VJAS said in a release here. Significantly, the IPL is being conducted under the aegis of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), of which Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar is the Chairman, it said.
Criticising the decision of the
''The decision is shocking because IPL ties are professional matches, being conducted with millions of rupees from the corporate world. One of the team owners, Mukesh Ambani, is among the richest in the world. He had not asked for any concession in the tax. Yet, the government gave one,'' the release said.
The organisation would shortly move a petition before the
-- (UNI) -- 19BY24.xml
© 2000-2008 webindia123.com/Suni System (P) Ltd. All rights reserved
SEVEN MORE VIDARBHA FARMERS SUICIDES TAKING TOLL TO 371 IN 2008 TOO: NOW SBI FARM LOAN FREEZER HAS ADDED FRESH FUEL ON GOING DEEP DISTRESS
VIDARBHA JANANDOLAN SAMITI
11, Trisaran Society, In front of
Tel No. (0712) 2282457 Mob No. 9422108846 kishortiwari@gmail.com
===================================================================
Ref : VJAS/relief package-08 PRESSS-NOTE 21th MAY, 2008
SEVEN MORE VIDARBHA FARMERS SUICIDES TAKING TOLL TO 371 IN 2008 TOO: NOW SBI FARM LOAN FREEZER HAS ADDED FRESH FUEL ON GOING DEEP DISTRESS OF MILLION COTTON FARMERS
VJAS DEMANDS MOST NEEDED RELIEF TO DYING FARMERS
Nagpur-21th MAY, 2008
http://kishortiwari.blogspot.com/2008/05/364-farmers-suicides-in-vidarbha-in.html
now vidarbha agrarian reported 371th victim named as panjabrao deshmukh of village dhanora in amaravati adding more pain to this crisis as same amaravati district has given late union agriculture dr.panjabrao deshmukh who is founder bharat krishak samaj (B.K.S.) AND I.C.A.R. who has shown path of success to Indian agriculture after freedom now his next generation of farmers are committing suicides due to poverty ,debt and food and health hardships informed kishor tiwari of vidarbha janandolan samiti (VJAS) today.
Along with this debt trap
1.PANJABRAO DESHMUKH IN AMARVATI six other farmers are
2.harichnadra kulejkar in bhandara
3.vasant bonde in wardha
4.mahadev jadhav in buldhana
5.sadashiv rathode in yavatmal
7.manik manohare in wardha
This has taken tally of farm suicides to 371.
here is the monwise and district wise details of 371farm suicides of vidarbha in 2008.
| MONTHS-2008 | FARM SUICIDES | DISTRICT | Farm suicides |
| JAN | 80 | YAVATMAL | 99 |
| FEB. | 86 | AMARAVATI | 90 |
| MARCH | 87 | WASHIM | 28 |
| APRIL | 89 | BULDHANA | 43 |
| MAY | 29 | | 32 |
| | | WARDHA | 32 |
| | | BHANDARA | 13 |
| | | | 13 |
| | | CHANDRAPUR | 10 |
| | | GADCHIROLI | 2 |
| | | GONDIA | 9 |
| TOTAL | 371 | | 371 |
VJAS DEMANDS MOST NEEDED RELIEF TO DYING FARMERS
Vidarbha jan andolan samiti (VJAS) has once again asked demanded that PMO sould give to serious importance to vidarbha agrarian crisis as recently tabled CAG report on farmers relief package worth Rs.5000 crore and survey of ground reality which adding further fuel to on going mass genocide of vidarbha farmers and requested to take remedial measures such provided food security and health care to identified more than million of distressed farmers as per administration survey to stop on going farm suicides in vidarbha ,kishor tiwari added.
It has been earlier reported that .
Net result Relief Package as per CAG report
CAG certified that the money did not help mitigate the gargantuan agrarian crisis or even
reduce farmers' suicides."Farmers' suicides shot up dramatically even when the two packages were in vogue," says the report, which was tabled before the state
legislature on April 27, just hours before the end of its budget
session.
One of the important deficiencies of the packages, as the CAG foundout, was the fact that they did not improve agricultural prices.In its observation, the implementation of recommendations of the FactFinding Committee (of Planning Commission of India) could have helped in reduction of farmers' distress and the consequent suicides.
The committee had recommended in March 2006, shortly after its visits
to the region, that the minimum support price for agriculture crops
should carry appropriate variation for the region so that it reflected
the actual input cost and was not an estimated figure.
Despite this, the CAG observes, the MSP for the four major crops of
the region declared by the Government of India during the years
2003-06 was 29-38 per cent less than the MSPs proposed by the state
agriculture price committee (SAPC) of Maharashtra Government. During
2006-07, the MSP was 31 to 40 per cent less than that proposed by the
SAPC.
as per CAG report now it clear that GOVT. failed on relief work front more over lost of corruption and malpractices have been observed in CAG survey but at cost and credit front administration just forced more distress farmers to commit suicides by exploiting more and more .CAG report is nothing but warning to the Indian govt. regarding mass farm suicides due accumulated distress in more than million cotton farmers of vidarbha,kishor tiwari informed
NON-PROFESSIONAL APPROACH TO ADDRESS THE ISSUE
Our distress report analysis and relief work delay has been just reproduced 1.4.34 lacs distress class A farmers were not given serious attention and not single G.R. was issued for utilization of rs.3750 crore and every scheme was made on paper will of concern deptt. And collector and Banks were free act to exploit the dying farmers , the CAG report found that the nationalized and cooperative banks not only levied interest more than the principle amount to the tune of Rs 29 crore, but also wrongly claimed it in waiver of effected six district in west vidarbha.
BANK LOOT
For instance, the seven branches of district central cooperative (DCC)bank test-checked by the surveyors had levied an interest of Rs 5.13crore as against principal of Rs 3.19crore, resulting in excess claimof Rs 1.94 crore.
The CAG found that the DCC banks and rural cooperative societies charged an interest at the rate of 17 per cent per annum instead of 14 in over four lakh accounts involving principal amount of Rs 514.64 crore. This resulted in excess claim of interest at three
per cent per annum. The penal interest of three per cent per annum works out to Rs 15.44 crore, it says. report says farmers did not benefit from interestwaiver. For, their incomes did not augment in any way.The PM package had waived interest on all agricultural loans
overdue as on June 2006 and reschedule the loans.Banks claimed a total interest waiver of Rs 824.99 crore, with the state's share being Rs 356 crore.However, as the CAG report says, the banks extended crop loans to only 4.84 lakh farmers out of a total 17.64-lakh farmers in the six most affected districts. So only about 35 per cent farmers got institutional credit, when the proposal was to reschedule the loans of 9.29 lakh cases (about 60 per cent), which had an outstanding principal amount of Rs 1369.85 crore.
The CAG says fresh crop loan disbursement actually dipped to 637.88crore in 2007 from Rs 9.29 crore in 2006, when the PM, Dr ManmohanSingh, announced the package in Nagpur.The CAG report about crop loan disbursement after relief package that it decline in the number offresh loan cases that 1,92,745 borrowers were landless farm workers
who did not require any crop loan, 26,400 borrowers had died, 25,129 farmers had sold their land (in that year), 21,125 had left villagesand 30,715 did not require any loan. The 62,807 cases were marred by disputes of lack of essential documents while in 85,975 cases the farmers had long-term loans.The CAG has objected to the fact that the government should not have waived the interest on the loans outstanding on the nearly two-lakh landless labourers.the CAG report states that the government's ban on illegal money lending did not stand before the high court.
FAILED TO MANAGED TO DISTRESS LEVEL OF DYING FARMERS OF
please look at the CAG's evaluation, it says "the possibility that agrarian distress
essentially caused by un-remunerative agriculture would start rising
again in the closing years of the package (2008-09)." It warns that
distress could increase significantly after the expiry of the
moratorium on loan recovery. now CAG has officially confirmed that not only the chief minister and prime minister in 2005 and 2006 have flopped but has raised serious issue of
THE RETURN ON INVESTMENT(ROI)
The return on investment(RoI) of a typical cotton farmer, the CAG found, was a shocking minus two per cent before the implementation of packages. Which meant a farmer was in losses the day he went for sowing of seeds. It shot up to seven per cent in the first year of the package, and then dwindled to five per cent in the second and two per cent in the
third year.
CAG REPORT – GOVT.FAILED TO ADRESS IRIGATION ISSUE
THE CAG report finds a serious problem with the micro-irrigation and
assured irrigation projects worth over Rs 2300 crore in the packages.
The PM package has a component of Rs 2177 crore to create irrigation potential for 1.6 lakh hectares in six suicide-prone districts. Of this, Rs 2085.38 crore was to fund eight major, nine medium and 65minor irrigation projects as grant from the Centre.
However, the Government of India revised in December 2006 the eligibility criteria for funding. According to the revised criteria,if the state government fails to comply with the agreed date of completion, the amount released would be treated as loan and recovered
as per usual terms of central loan recovery.The CAG report states that the possibility of completion of projects within the stipulated time is remote. "This presents the risk of Rs2085.38 crore (or 56 per cent of total package amount) becoming loan instead of grant."As the CAG's performance audit of farmers' packages finds that not
only were the packages tardy in implementation, but also mindless in
conceptualization and "inconsistent with local needs."
as per CAG report now it clear that GOVT. failed on relief work front more over lost of corruption and malpractices have been observed in CAG survey but at cost and credit front administration just forced more distress farmers to commit suicides by exploiting more and more .CAG report is nothing but warning to the Indian govt. regarding mass farm suicides due accumulated distress in more than million cotton farmers of vidarbha.
.
Please arrange to publish this press note
Thanking you,
Yours faithfully,
For VIDARBHA JANANDOLAN SAMITI
KISHORE TIWARI
PRESIDENT.
contact-09422108846
No comments:
Post a Comment