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The Centre Has Abdicated Its Responsibility to Farmers Through Its Pricing Policies -Kavitha Kuruganti
-TheWire.in

The insurance coverage in 2015 was 22.3%, with a government expenditure of Rs 2,955 crore. But by spending 4.5x since, how does the government admit to a coverage of only 23%?

Farmer suicides and agrarian distress have likely never been among the national public debates as they are right now.

A group of Tamil Nadu farmers, whose protests in New Delhi were dubbed ‘bizarre’ but who were actually desperate for debate and action, managed to get find mention in the media as well as in the Parliament. In Odisha, a state Assembly house panel is visiting villages to inquire into farmer suicide cases. The Madras high court didn’t hesitate to direct the Tamil Nadu government to waive off cooperatives’ loans of all farmers in the state; agriculture insurance companies have received notices from a few high courts on the lack of payments to farmers even for seasons when huge losses were incurred.

The Supreme Court has two PILs running, one being a case specific to Tamil Nadu and another being heard by the Chief Justice’s bench. In the latter case, the court designated all state governments, union territories and the Reserve Bank of India as respondent parties. The bench pointed out that it wouldn’t suffice to compensate farmers’ families after they have taken their lives and that the government should have a roadmap to prevent farmer suicides as such. In its hearing on March 3, 2017, the bench acknowledged the problem of indebtedness and said that it was surprised how no action had been taken to address the causes of suicides.

Data (PDF) from just four states (Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Karnataka and Telangana) suggests that 6,667 farmers killed themselves in 2016, already around 53% of all farm suicides in 2015. The official numbers from the National Crime Records Bureau are awaited. What is important is that states often deny the very occurrence of farmer suicides due to agrarian distress. If they don’t acknowledge the ongoing problem, how are they likely to tackle it?

Centre v. state responsibilities

In its affidavit filed with the Supreme Court in response to the court’s notice, the Union of India cites findings from a new study commissioned by the Ministry of Agriculture. It clearly shows – yet again – that crop failure, indebtedness and unremunerative market prices are major causes. It also pointed out that institutional sources of credit put enormous pressure on farmers for repayment, even though there are clear directives that require loan rescheduling and repayment moratorium for at least one year.

What the study did not bring up, but which other evidence from the ground has shown, is that most farmer suicides in certain suicide-prone states are those of tenant farmers, who have no identity in the eyes of the agricultural machinery at this point of time and can’t access any support or schemes.

The Centre puts the onus on state governments, citing that the Seventh Schedule of the Constitution requires that the actual implementation of the proposals, being finalised by the Centre, is at the level of individual state governments. However, it is clear that the Centre controls the directions and the decisions related to crucial policies that actually contribute to suicides.

In 2017, when most of south India has been reeling under a severe drought with an unprecedented scarcity of water, it is not out of place to talk about crop insurance first. Ironically, the government also begins its affidavit by mentioning the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) in its exaggerated fashion. It goes to the extent of claiming that the PMFBY addresses all shortcomings prevalent in the earlier schemes.

However, in 2015 (and before PMFBY), the insurance coverage was 22.3% of our farmers with a government expenditure of just Rs 2,955 crore, while by spending Rs 13,240 crore on the PMFBY, the government admits to a coverage of only 23%! In terms of real benefits, only Rs 714 crore has been disbursed against insurance claims whereas the total claim is Rs 4,270.55 crore.

Insurance companies are laughing all the way to the banks while farmers are crying all the way to their graves. Last year’s 32% growth in the non-life insurance sector was driven mainly by crop insurance. With inadequate sums assured, meagre coverage and delayed payments, it is not clear why the government is proud of its PMFBY or even the general crop-insurance record. Meanwhile, even though premiums are cut from loanee farmers on time and compulsorily, insurance companies are not paying up for crop losses for no fault of hapless farmers thanks to delays at the governments’ end.

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