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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Solution glosses over key problem: farmers are landless -Sreenivas Janyala

Solution glosses over key problem: farmers are landless -Sreenivas Janyala

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published Published on Nov 21, 2014   modified Modified on Nov 21, 2014
-The Indian Express

Oorugonda/ Warangal: Twenty -two kilometres from Warangal, a narrow road from National Highway 202 leads to Oorugonda, a village of around a thousand farmers in Atmakur mandal. An eerie silence hangs around it, with a few middle-aged men sitting under a tree looking up inquisitively at visitors.

They are not done grieving for 40-year-old Modanti Krishnamma. Last week, she killed herself after the cotton crop she and her husband had grown on a two-acre land they had leased for Rs 20,000 per year failed due to inadequate rains. Owing Rs 1 lakh to moneylenders, she consumed pesticide. Her husband "fled" soon after, villagers say, to his native village in Mahbubnagar, to escape the moneylenders.

Modanti was the fourth farmer to commit suicide in Oorugonda this year, in a district with the largest number of farmer suicides in Telangana. NGO Rythu Swarajya Vedika puts the number of deaths so far this year in Warangal district at 125.

This year's Budget package for landless farmers, as laid out in the RBI guidelines issued earlier this month, is the second major effort to mitigate their distress. In September 2006, the UPA government had declared a massive rehabilitation package of Rs 16,978 crore after identifying 31 suicide-prone districts in Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra's Vidarbha region, Karnataka and Kerala. The package aimed to promote sustainable farming and provide debt relief to farmers through restructuring of overdue loans, waiver of interests, total institutional credit coverage, crop-centric approach to agriculture, and assured irrigation facilities.

An ex-gratia assistance from the Prime Minister's National Relief Fund amounting to Rs 50 lakh per district was also provided. Andhra Pradesh had got the highest share of the package - 56 per cent.

Of the Rs 16,978 crore relief package, Rs 10,579 crore was subsidy/grants and Rs 6,399 crore was loan. Karimnagar, Medak and Warangal (then in Andhra and now in Telangana) were among the 31 districts identified as suicide-prone.

However, while the 2006 package helped mitigate the distress of farmers in immediate need, over the years, farmers again fell into the debt trap. According to officials of the Agro-Economic Research Centre at Vizag, which conducted a study in 2008-09 on the impact of the rehabilitation package for the Centre, this was because banks insisted on mortgage. And landless farmers had nothing to mortgage.

Dr L K Mohana Rao of the Vizag centre, who studied the impact in Andhra, says the 2006 package only helped reschedule or waive off loans and interest during that particular period. "There was no permanent solution to farmers' woes.

Currently, across Warangal and Nalgonda districts, landless farmers pay Rs 10,000 per acre per year to lease land. If there is a well or borewell in it, the rate goes up to Rs 15,000. This has to be paid upfront by the farmer at the time of taking the lease, and almost all borrow money to do it, hoping that with a good crop, they will settle the loans and still make some profit.

When that doesn't happen, they fall into the debt cycle - since the banks demand collateral, they have to turn to private moneylenders; since they have to turn to private moneylenders, they are not covered by even the Telangana government's latest farm loan waiver scheme; and since the moneylenders have an upper hand, they charge a backbreaking 24 per cent interest per annum.

Even if the harvest is good, the profits go into paying the interest on the loan or settling old debts. And if a crop fails, the debt trap begins. Even in cases where finance is available through loans, the amount barely covers crop expenses. Often, the last straw is when they have to borrow for even that day's meal.

This year, in field after field, the blow has been dealt by lack of rains or heavy unseasonal rains. According to the Agriculture Department and Met Department, there is a 24 per cent to 48 per cent rainfall deficit in the 10 districts of Telangana. Against average normal rainfall of 715 mm, this season the rainfall was only 499 mm. During the peak sowing season in June-July, the average rainfall in Telangana was 53 per cent less than normal. With only 32 per cent of its land irrigated, Telangana can hardly afford it.

Telangana Agriculture Minister Pocharam Srinivas Reddy, who argues that not all farmer suicides are due to crop failure, claims help is on its way. "The TRS government is waiving off bank loans and it is a huge relief to farmers already." What he doesn't say is that this loan waiver only covers loans from institutional sources - again leaving those indebted to moneylenders out in the cold.

C Dharma Reddy, MLA of Parkal Assembly constituency that falls in the region, has no idea of the number of farmer suicides reported from his seat (the number is 13). However, the MLA who this month crossed over to the ruling Telangana Rashtra Samiti from the TDP, admits there is a reason to worry, given that the yield of cotton and maize has been very poor.

Mandal Revenue Officers (MROs) have not even visited Oorugonda, Mulugu and other villages of Warangal where suicides have been reported. "Only police came and conducted a panchnama. Neither an MRO nor anyone from collector's office has visited the village since the first suicide in March," says Ooorugonda village sarpanch Jakulla Rani.

The chief of a farmers' organisation, Telangana Rythu Sangam, B Chandra Reddy, says district-and mandal-level government officials deliberately go slow on farm-related deaths. "In most cases, in spite of being intimated of a suicide, the MRO does not visit because he has to then report it to higher authorities, and it adds to the number of cases," says Reddy.

In the 79 "suicides" that the government officially acknowledges, Rs 1.50 lakh ex-gratia as been paid - Rs 50,000 as one-time settlement for any pending debts irrespective of how much the victim had borrowed, and Rs 1 lakh as assistance to the family.

The suicide by the husband of Shobha Srinavas of Oorugonda is not among them. Her husband, Akerla Srinavas (35), killed himself on August 10, after his cotton crop failed twice, first due to unseasonal rains and the second time, due to lack of rains. Helped by her sister and brother-in-law, Shobha is trying to salvage whatever she can from their 5 acres of land (3 acres of it leased). "I also work as a farm labourer for Rs 100 a day. I have two small children to take care of," she says.

Marpati Samba Reddy, 50, of Bhimadevarapalli village in Karimnagar, another suicide-prone district, was among the lucky ones to have managed a loan. The owner of 3 acres, Reddy had got a loan of Rs 60,000 from Deccan Grameen Branch last year. With his maize crop's growth stunted though, he borrowed Rs 1.4 lakh from moneylenders early this year, before the Telangana government announced its loan waiver. However, the yield was again very less.

"The 3 acres should have yielded 75 quintals, but we ended up getting less than 5. This won't even fetch Rs 10,000," says Reddy's father Sanjeev Reddy. On August 25, Samba Reddy consumed pesticide.

Vodideru Komariah was just 30, "the youngest farmer to have committed suicide" in Oorugonda village. He killed himself in March, soon after he realised his cotton crop was withering. "He always discouraged me from joining farming and sent me to a degree college even though he had to borrow to pay the fees," says his brother.

Komariah's wife Kavita is not sure how much debt he left behind, only that given the poor rains and yield, any amount would be too much for her. "He did not discuss a lot," she says. "I think he owed some Rs 70,000."

Promises, promises

2006 scheme

Helped in short term but UPA's massive package failed as banks sought collateral

CURRENT SCHEME

* Loan Eligibility Cards: Issued to farmers certifying them as tenant farmers, to be produced in banks for loan. But officials wary of issuing cards fearing they will be held accountable in case a farmer defaults

* Bank targets: 18 pc of loans have to be agricultural, but banks include all loans by farmers under it

* Agriculture subsidies: Declared every year on seeds, fertilisers, but only a short-term benefit

NEW SCHEME

5 lakh ‘Joint Liability Groups' of ‘Bhoomi heen kisan (landless farmers)' to be financed through NABARD in current year. Farmers can form groups, stand as guarantors for each other.

The Indian Express, 21 November, 2014, http://indianexpress.com/article/india/india-others/solution-glosses-over-key-problem-farmers-are-landless/99/


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