The loan waiver scheme that the UPA government had announced is still to be implemented. Many farmers in Vidarbha region of Maharashtra have ended their lives, as no clear orders of writing off old loans and giving fresh crop have been issued.

THE UNITED Progressive Alliance (UPA) government’s decision to write off farm loans has had little impact on the ground. In Vidarbha region of Maharashtra, thousands of suicides by farmers are still being reported. Till date, no clear orders of writing off old loans and giving fresh crop loan to every farmers have been received yet.

Moreover, National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development’s (NABARD) fresh directives of not considering farm debt holders who have defaulted before 1997 for loan waiver has added fuel. This would put the farmers of distressed cotton area of Vidarbha, out of the loan waiver scheme. There is much more confusion with bankers about one-time settlement (OTS) announcement of farmers having more than Rs 20,000 debt.

Vidarbha Jan Andolan Samiti (VJAS) president Kishor Tiwari alleged that the government has not waived farm loans yet due to which the cotton farmers of Vidarbha are not being given fresh crop loans.

The banks say that they are still waiting for the government directive on the waiver. "’We don’t have any information from the government and till we get that and study it, we cannot act," is the common answer all official of district Central cooperative banks. With just one week to go for the rains, farmers fear a wasted season.

The waiver when it finally comes could be just too late. Most of the farmers are just getting cotton seed from the local money lenders cum seed traders, which are provided by big MNCs. Deciding on the crop pattern of west Vidarbha, these seeds are given out, forcing the local farmers for high risk and high cost cultivation of most risky cotton crop to the maximum as government failed to provide credit to dying Vidarbha farmers.

In fact, finance minister P Chidambaram announced that original Rs 60,000 crores farm loan waiver is being expanded to Rs 71,000 crores, which would be implemented before June 30, 2008. But two hector cap and cut of date has not been extended to three million distressed dying Vidarbha cotton farmers till now.

Tiwari expressing concern that having deprived bank credit, farmers may land up in more complex credit problems. This implies that more distressed farmers may opt for killer path of suicide. Thus this complete loan waiver is the only solution to save Vidarbha farmers.

We have been demanding minimum food security and health care and rural employment or direct subsidy to dying farmers in order to stop these on going farm-suicides, but nobody is ready to look at our demands, Tiwari added.

VJAS has asked Prime Minister Dr Mammohan Singh to generate an integrated formula to tackle Vidarbha agrarian distress based on these terms:

1. Restoration of cotton advance bonus that price of Rs 2700 per quintal. UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi had promised at the time of Maharashtra assembly elections in 2004 during which Congress-NCP government had stopped advance bonus and brought down cotton price from Rs 2500 per quintal to Rs 1800 per quintal during 2005-06 and 2006-07.

2. Providing fresh credit from institutional bank to all debt trapped farmers mostly from private money lenders and to provide five-year credit cycle as asked by National Credit Foundation (NCF).

3. Provide food crop promotion incentive to Vidarbha cotton farmers.

4. Complete ban on chemical advance genetic farming methods as it failed to give feasible and profitable cash crop pattern. Moreover, it’s high cost high risk has increased distress in Vidarbha farmers resulting in more suicides of farmers prior to genetically modified cotton seed commercial trials permission.

5. There is no concrete investment plan both from Indian and Maharashtran government to provide value addition to cotton crop at local level, more option for secondary support system revival, neither a single plan of agro processing network.

6. There is no plan of direct protection from market forces to the cash crop cultivating farmers on cost stabilisation front.

7.No plan is set up to regulate the control cost and quality of input and exploitation from forward trading in commodity market.

8. No relief is given as per food security and health care and educational fees towards the distressed farmers nor direct government employment to one person from distressed farming family.

"W have been demanding these basic necessities since June 2005, but have failed to get any single relief resulting in more than 5000 suicides of farmers. Relief packages are given out every time, but nothing is implemented for the dying Vidarbha farmers," said Tiwari.

He urged the UPA government to give complete loan waiver to all cotton farmers without any condition and restore advance bonus and give Rs 2700 per quintal price as promised in the UPA manifesto.