The Congress in Madhya Pradesh has claimed that the initiatives of former chief minister Kamal Nath to waive of farm loans contributed to the decrease in farmers’ suicides in the state.
The Congress claim came on the back of the National Crime Records Bureau’s (NCRB) annual report that showed a drop of 53% in farmer suicides in Madhya Pradesh in 2019.
The NCRB released its accidental deaths and suicides in India (ADSI) report for the year 2019 last week.
The Congress said that although the farmers suicide rate increased by 3% in rest of the country, it came down by 53% in Madhya Pradesh. The central Indian state reported 303 farmer suicide cases in 2018 when the Bharatiya Janata Party was in power and it came down to 142 cases in 2019 when Congress ruled the state.
The Congress had ended the BJP’s 15-year rule in the state in December 2018 by winning the polls with a slender margin. The Congress formed the government with the help of smaller parties and independents and Nath became the chief minister.
Although there is a significant improvement in the suicide cases of farmers, the suicide by farm labourers increased from 352 to 399 in MP during this period, the report says.
{{/usCountry}}Although there is a significant improvement in the suicide cases of farmers, the suicide by farm labourers increased from 352 to 399 in MP during this period, the report says.
{{/usCountry}}However, the farmer suicide trend in Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh, where Congress came to power in 2018 simultaneously with MP and introduced the farm loan waiver scheme, is different.
In Rajasthan, only two farmers had committed suicide in 2018 and the number is reported as same in 2019 too while in Chhattisgarh, the number of cases increased by 21% from 182 in 2018 to 233 cases in 2019, according to the ADSI report.
Rajasthan government officials said farmer suicides are reported separately only if the investigation shows the reason for committing the acct was farm related.
The Congress in Madhya Pradesh had promised ₹2 lakh per head loan waiver to farmers in the run-up to 2018 assembly elections. Once in power, the Congress government claimed to have waived loans of more than two million farmers who had loans up to ₹50,000. The second phase of the loan of farmers having loans of ₹50,001 to ₹one lakh was announced in December 2019. However, the Congress government was dislodged by BJP in March 2020 before the second phase of loan waiver scheme could be implemented.
A Congress leader said, “We are not concerned about what happened in other Congress ruled states but in MP we have decided to make the significant fall in the number of farmer suicides a major poll issue in the bypolls in 27 assembly constituencies.”
Farmer welfare and agriculture development minister in Kamal Nath government, Sachin Yadav, said, “Former chief minister Nath’s agrarian policies and schemes had given a ray of hope to farmers. The farm loan waiver scheme proved a boon and many farmers got the benefits from the scheme. But other reforms like action against the land mafia, mandi mafia and money lenders,helped bring down the production cost of crops and farmers were getting a fair price for their crops. All these factors brought happiness to farmers in MP.”
Farmers and farmers associations have mixed opinions about the Congress’s claim.
Rashtriya Kisan Majdoor Sangh president Shivkumar ‘kakkaji’ said, “Apart from the major schemes meant for farmers, Congress-led state government had started addressing small issues too related to farmers. In just one year, more than 2 lakh agriculture land dispute cases, which were in pendency for the past several decades, were resolved by the revenue department. Similarly, farmers were being trained for horticulture too so that their sole dependence on traditional crops could be reduced to some extent.”
Bharaitya Kisan Union general secretary Anil Yadav said, “It’s true that the then Congress-led state government’s loan waiver promise reduced the stress on farmers but there was unequal distribution of benefits and poor implementation of the scheme. In fact, both BJP and Congress use farmers to win election and after election they forget them.”
A farmer Bhagwan Meena of Sehore district said, “Congress promise of loan waiver raised the hope of farmers. Loan of a section of farmers was waived to a certain amount but a good number of farmers who expected waiver of ₹2 lakh loan became defaulters in the records of banks as they were not given the benefit of the scheme.”
The ruling BJP rubbished the Congress’ claim of improving the condition of farmers.
Minister for farmer welfare and agriculture development in the BJP-led government, Kamal Patel said, “The farmers trusted lies of the Congress but in just one year, the then Congress government stood exposed for its falsehood. Now, farmers are facing a tough time due to the Congress’ poor policies. We are helping the farmers overcome their problems. We are also giving compensation to farmers by conducting a swift survey of damaged crops.”