According to media reports, a farmer of Khandwa district in Madhya Pradesh has committed suicide after he failed to qualify for the loan waiver scheme announced by the Kamal Nath’s government in Madhya Pradesh. Earlier, the BJP condemned the newly appointed CM for his announcement of the loan waiver scheme with terms and conditions attached to it. BJP IT cell in-charge Amit Malviya shared a video posted on Times Now’s official twitter handle saying: “Well done, Kamal Nath and Rahul Gandhi. Your irresponsible politics is leading poor farmers to commit suicide.”
Well done, Kamalnath and Rahul Gandhi. Your irresponsible politics is leading poor farmers to commit suicide… https://t.co/mBv18Cyrto
— Amit Malviya (मोदी का परिवार) (@amitmalviya) December 22, 2018
Former CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan criticized the Kamal Nath’s government and tweeted, “The Congress should stay away from such betrayal”. He further said that the state government should not put any barrier or filter on their schemes. The welfare scheme is for all the citizens, not for selected ones, he added.
काँग्रेस ने कहा था किसानों का कर्जा माफ करेंगे तो किया गया वादा उन्हें पूरा करना होगा। किसी भी प्रकार का बेरियर और छन्नी नहीं चलेगी। हमारी जनहित की सभी योजनाओं का लाभ प्रदेशवासियों तक नई सरकार को पहुंचाना होगा: श्री @ChouhanShivraj pic.twitter.com/l3IU9zT9BS
— Office of Shivraj (@OfficeofSSC) December 21, 2018
After assuming power in the state of Madhya Pradesh, Kamal Nath government waived off the farmer loans in its very first order. An order issued by state government stated, “Madhya Pradesh Government has taken a decision to write off short-term crop loan of eligible farmers up to the limit of Rs two lakh, as on March 31, 2018, from nationalized and cooperative banks.”
But, there are a lot of strings attached to the loan waiver scheme. It is estimated that the terms and conditions attached to the loan waiver scheme led to the exclusion of around 90000 farmers from getting the benefit. The order states that there is an upper ceiling for the outstanding amount to be waived off that is of Rs. 2 lakhs. This means that any farmer having a loan amount of more than 2 Lakhs will hardly get any benefit of this loan-waiver.
The order further stated that the outstanding amount till 31st March 2018 would be waived off by the state government. This poses another problem for several farmers, contradicting the promise made by the Congress party and Rahul Gandhi which said that full farm loans had to be waived off. But the order also mentions that only short term loans would be waived off while most of the loans like for digging wells, buying irrigation equipment, tractors, animals etc comes under medium to long term loans which are not to be waived off. The order states that the loans of ‘eligible farmers’ would be waived off. This left everyone wondering whether the waiver scheme has only surprises and restrictions or any relief for the farmers. One more fact which has to be taken care of is that almost 95% of farmers renew their loans on yearly basis.
In case all the above-mentioned restrictions are applied, ‘eligible farmers’ might just come around 10% of the total farmers’ population. Moreover, while waiving loans in Karnataka, Congress added 11 riders and the party seems to be following the same precedent in Madhya Pradesh.
During the election campaign, Congress had promised full farmer loan waiver. Adding riders with the loan waiver scheme is nothing but a cruel joke with the people of Madhya Pradesh. The family members of the victim alleged that the farmer took his life because he was not entitled to the loan waivers announced by newly-elected CM Kamal Nath. The scheme is a proof of Congress’ arrogance and negligence towards the farmers.