Friday, February 22, 2008

Budget Countdown: Indian Farmers Expect Great Relief

by Phillip Horton

The Indian farmers for now have been badly hit by debts and the question of farmer suicides from the different states of the country has put great pressure on the UPA government. Most of the cases of farmer suicides have been recorded in the Vidarbha region of the state of Maharashtra. The farmers from this region of India have big expectations from India’s finance minister P. Chidambaram, and they are hoping for some big concession and incentives from the upcoming union budget. Although many analysts say that the upcoming budget will be most focused towards the common budget since elections are scheduled for the next year.

The Vidarbha region of Maharashtra is near Nagpur and has a reputation for producing export quality oranges. Although during the visit of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to this region in the wake of farmer suicides, relief packages were announced but the proper implementation of the relief package did not take place. Hence families of dead farmers were deprived of the promised government relief packages. Farmers from this region are expecting that the government would in the upcoming budget implement the special relief packages. Farmers in the region are reeling under the burden of debts taken from private lenders and banks and they also claim that it is difficult for them to even recover the costs that go in planting the crops. Another major complaint of the farmers is that though there are government subsidies, they do not receive them on time and even if they receive any it is far too little to cover up their costs.

The head of a Gram Panchayat in the district of Aasthi, Suresh Pund, commented on the plight of the farmers in this region that since cotton does not grow well hence they have to suffer losses. The growth of oranges is no longer profitable for the farmers also. The head also said that the government buys seeds from the farmers at lower rates and sells them at a price three times higher. All these conditions add to the plight of the farmers and hence the cases of farmer suicides grow. The main demand of the farmers in the Vidarbha region is that their debts should be waived as well as the rate of interests on borrowings should also be brought down so that farming becomes affordable to them. The other demand of these farmers from the forthcoming budget is that the electricity supply should be consistent and reliable.

The Vidarbha region had to suffer from three successive droughts and hundreds of farmers have been driven to commit suicide in the last year and there are still cases of farmer suicides going on. The main reasons cited are failure of the crops and mounting debts. The official figures for farmer deaths are 3,600 in the last five years but the figures can be much higher than this since government officials are reluctant to register farmer deaths as suicides. 600 million people in India rely on agriculture and private lenders are mostly to blame for the condition of farmers.

 

 

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