He said: “In 2018, I had sold 1 quintal
of soybean. That time, as per the price difference scheme, there was a
difference of Rs 500 which the government had to pay me. But then the election
happened, and the government changed with which my payment of Rs 1 lakh got
stuck.”

“Whenever I go to the vegetable wholesale
market, I inquire from the official about the money due to me under price
difference scheme. They reply simply that there hasn’t been any futher notification
from the authorities and that only when the funds would be released, I shall be
paid my dues. A lakh being a huge amount, I can only hope that the government
will understand a farmer’s predicament,” Salim shares his pain with Gaon Connection.

To shield the farmers from the fluctuations
in the market prices, Madhya Pradesh government had, in 2017, launched
‘Mukhyamantri Bhavantar Bhugtan Yojna’ (the price difference payment scheme).
Under the scheme, the government had proposed to pay to the farmers the
difference in the market price and the minimum support price (MSP). However, the
farmers were unhappy over the delay in payments.

The Kamal Nath government shall
complete one year in office on December 17, which falls next month. Resuming
power in the state after a long gap of 15 years, the Congress saw its veteran
leader Kamal Nath take charge as the 18^th chief minister of the
state on December 17, 2018. Within a few hours of swearing in as the CM, Kamal
Nath had foremostly signed on the farmers’ loan waiver file.

During the 2018 Vidhan Sabha elections,
the Congress mandate, promising loan waivers up to Rs 2 lakh, had attracted
people’s interest. Post elections, poll experts hailed the move as a turning
point since the farmer population of Madhya Pradesh exceeds 55 lakh.

As soon as his government assumed
power, Kamal Nath sent out the message that his was a pro-farmer government.
Under this, he launched a scheme named ‘Jai Kisan Rin Mukti Yojana’ (the farmer
loan waiving scheme) with a budget of Rs 50,000 crore. After a few months, the government
had promised a bonus of Rs 160 upon wheat.

But are the farmers in the state
pleased with the Kamal Nath government? In order to find out, we talked to the
farmers of several districts in Madhya Pradesh and tried to assess how far the
government has been successful in delivering its mandate.

What happened to
the farmer loan waiver scheme?

Narayan Kherwa, 65, a farmer living in
Harda district Alanpur village is worried about his loan remaining unwaived
despite having received a loan waiver certificate. He informed, “In 2018, my
son had taken a loan of Rs 1.12 lakh from the cooperative bank out of which
52,380 remained to be repaid. This year, I was issued a certificate of loan
waiver on February 25 and was told that my loan had been waived off — the
notification of which I was to receive shortly after from the bank.”

“I had thought that my loan had been
waived off but one day when I had gone to the cooperative board to fetch seeds,
I was told that I was a defaulter and I would first have to repay my loan.
Thereafter, I visited the bank where the nodal officer informed me that my loan
had not been waived off so far and I would be notified when it should happen,” informed
Narayan.

Madhya Pradesh sees an internal tussle
between the Congress leaders regarding the issue of farmer loan waiver. A few
days ago, addressing a rally in Bhind on
October 11, senior Congress leader Jyotiraditya Scindia had said, “Not
all farmers’ loans have been waived so far. As against our promise of loan
waiver for up to Rs 2 lakh, we could only manage waving loans up to Rs 50 thousand.”

Thereafter, the state’s Food and Civil
Supplies Minister Pradyumn Singh Tomar had also supported Jyotiraditya
Scindia’s opinion. However, the PWD minister Sajjan Singh Verma had confronted
Scindia in support of the government. During an interaction with the
journalists, he said, “Scindia’s concern is limited to the farmers belonging to
his constituency, this is why he speaks like that. Since the opposition doesn’t
have an issue, this gentleman is providing it with one. Kamal Nath has a
natural flair to deal with challenges. He is today’s Abhimanyu for he knows how
to pierce through a chakravyuh.”

Following this, Kamal Nath had put
forth his views on the issue of loan waiving. In a press conference, he had
admitted, “Scindia speaks the truth for we have waived loans only up to Rs 50,000
in the first phase. It is during the second phase, we would undertake to waive
off loans worth up to Rs 2 lakh. I have a firm belief that the public has full
faith in its leader.”

Under the scheme, the farmers were
made to fill up three differently coloured forms at the onset and it was
promised by the government that 55 lakh farmers would benefit from loan
waiving. It was also told that those farmers who have more than 2 lakh loan
will get loan relief for up to Rs 2 lakh.

Going as per Kamal Nath’s statement,
first phase of the scheme has already achieved loan waiving for the farmers in
below Rs 50,000 loan bracket. We, however, came across several farmers who had
loans in the said bracket and yet did not benefit from the scheme.

Harda’s farmer leader Ram Inaniya
opined, “The Congress had come to power in Madhya Pradesh only upon its promise
of farmer loan waiver. It was good that the government wasted no time in acting
upon it when assuming power. However, they had never mentioned that the waiver
would be done in phases. Firstly, they kept private banks out of its purview,
then they added that only loans under Rs 50,000 taken from the cooperative
banks would be waived off. Now they are talking of waiving off loans up to Rs 2
lakh.”

“But, in fact, there are several
farmers around my village whose loans are below Rs 50,000 and which haven’t
been waived off,” Ram Inaniya added.

Subsequently, we met up with certain
farmers who had taken loans up to Rs 50,000. They also had been issued loan
waiver certificates without actual loans being waived off by the banks.

Farmer Rajesh Saran from Harda’s
Badgaon said: “Last year, I had taken Rs 14,000 loan from the society in order
to buy fertilizers. I had thought my loan, being much less than Rs 50,000,
would be waived off, but it wasn’t so.”

Mohanlal of Mandsaur district’s Garoth
has about 10 acres of land. Drawing a loan of Rs 97,000, he had sown soybean
this year which got ruined due to heavy rains. He said: “I had taken a loan of Rs
97,000 and now am a defaulter of Rs 50,000. I received the certificate of loan
waiver in May, but no loan has been waived off. Bank has not deducted the
premium for my crop insurance this year.”

“This year my entire crop got ruined.
Had I insured my crop, it would have helped me tide over the loss, but then I
wasn’t extended crop insurance as I am a defaulter. Neither my crops were
insured nor could I secure the loan waiver,” Mohanlal added.

Kedar Sirohi, the head of Madhya
Pradesh division of Kisan Congress, sides with the government on the issue. He said:
“All those farmers whose loan was with the nationalized banks’s Madhya Pradesh
have received loan waivers. Certain farmers who drew from the cooperative banks
faced problems and others who took loans from other sources could not be
helped.”

Why are the farmers facing
difficulties? Kedar Sirohi illustrates with an example, “Suppose I had drawn
loans worth Rs 50,000 but from two different sources out of which Rs 30,000 is
regular loan whereas Rs 20,000 is defaulting. We issued the certificate for Rs 50,000
whereas the bank waived off only the Rs 20,000 loan on which I was defaulting.
Farmers will have to understand this.”

“Farmers are not aware. This is why
they feel that the government is not waiving off their loans. It is not so. By
next year, we would waive off all farmers’ loan worth up to Rs 2 lakh,” Sirohi
assures.

“During 2016-18, Madhya Pradesh
suffered drought due to which farmers’ short term loans were converted to mid-term loans. So, this way, mid-term loans got waived off since they came into
defaulter category while short-term loans remain to be paid as they belong to
the regular category. Around 22 lakh farmers have already benefitted from the
scheme, while 12 lakh farmers are yet to be helped,” informed Sirohi.

Short-term loans are pretty much like
personal loans, but their payback time is much shorter whereas repayment of a
mid-term or medium-term loan can be done up to 3-5 years.

Palri village, which adjoins Mandsaur district
headquarters, has its farmer Bhuwanilal, 55, waiting for the payment of Rs 1.5
lakh under price difference payment scheme. He said: “In the 2018 rabi season,
I had sold 300 quintals of soybean. At that time, there was a price difference
of Rs 500 in our regional market. The then chief minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan
had assured the payment of Rs 500 per quintal as price difference, but as soon
as the government changed, the scheme was abandoned. No one knows whether we
would get our dues or not.”

The present state government admits
that about Rs 1,000 crore payment is yet to be done to the farmers as the price
difference. When in March, chief minister Kamal Nath had announced the bonus of
Rs 160 on wheat for the farmers, he did mention the pending payments of the
price difference scheme.

He had said, “About Rs 1 crore of the
price difference scheme must be shouldered by the Modi government as such
schemes are run in partnership by both central and state governments. So, when
the central government releases its share to the state government, the latter will
immediately disburse it after adding its own contribution.”

In March, the state
government had announced the bonus of Rs 160 per quintal on wheat to the
farmers, but the farmers have not received any money as a bonus so far.

Farmer Anil Kumar of Harda’s Alanpur village
awaits his bonus of Rs 45,000. He said: “In April, I had sold about 300
quintals of wheat which includes my brother’s share. For this, I was supposed
to receive Rs 45,000 as bonus in my bank account but so far, I haven’t received
a penny.”

About this Kedar Sirohi said: “Nine lakh
farmers have sold wheat in the state. A budget of Rs 1,500 crore has already
been approved for the purpose. The delay occurred due to code of conduct but we
are working on it and within this week all farmers will be issued bonus money.”

The national head of Kisan Jagriti
Sangathan, Irfan Jafri, is quite upset with this attitude of the state
government. He said: “Why did the Congress not tell it before the election that
the waivers will be handed out in instalments over a period of two years? The
governments may change, but the farmers’ state remains as deplorable as ever.
Jhabua had by-elections so the farmers there were given bonus-money. This
clearly shows that even this government will play politics over farmers instead
of doing them any good.”

It is true that before the by-elections,
Jhabua’s 17,000 farmers were given loan waivers. This has been confirmed by
Madhya Pradesh Congress on Twitter which had been retweeted by chief minister Kamal
Nath.”

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