Karam Prakash
New Delhi, December 23
Each agricultural household in the state has an outstanding loan of over Rs 2 lakh, against the average amount of Rs 74,121 in the country. This information was revealed by the Union Agriculture Minister, Narendra Singh Tomar, in the Rajya Sabha on Friday.
No waiver scheme implemented
No waiver scheme has been implemented by the Centre after the closure of the Agricultural Debt Waiver and Debt Relief Scheme to provide relief to farmers. Narendra Singh Tomar, Union Agriculture Minister
Third worst-affected by rain
- After Assam and Uttar Pradesh, Punjab was the third state worst-affected by heavy rain
- 82,727 hectares of standing crops were destroyed in different parts of Punjab in 2022
As per the Situation Assessment Survey of Agricultural Households, Punjab stands third in the country in terms of the average debt per agri household. And this is despite the fact that Punjab’s monthly income, per agricultural household, is second highest in the country. Experts are linking this dichotomy to the increasing production cost of the crops. When asked whether any scheme is currently proposed to provide relief to the farmers from debt, the minister said no waiver scheme had been implemented by the Centre after the closure of the Agricultural Debt Waiver and Debt Relief Scheme.
The minister, however, said they had taken other initiatives to reduce the debt burden of farmers so as to make them free from the clutches of money lenders. Farmers have been demanding complete waiver of their loans by the government. Devinder Sharma, an agriculture expert, said, “This shows expenses are higher than the income of the farmers. The cost of production has gone higher, and the profits have dipped. Besides, Punjab farmers should look to diversification of crops.”
Meanwhile, after Assam and Uttar Pradesh, Punjab was the state worst affected by heavy rain as thousands of acres of crops were ruined due to it. Agriculture Minister Narendra Tomar in Rajya Sabha said 82,727 hectares of crops were destroyed in Punjab in 2022 and going by the area, it is third worst affected due to the rains. Punjab farmers, however, have hotly contested the government figures. According to them, the actual figures are much higher.
BKU (Dakaunda) general secretary, Jagmohan Singh said, “The figures are nowhere near the ground reality. The government was supposed to conduct the girdawari and should have given compensation to farmers. However, nothing happened.”
Tomar said, “We are the ones who introduced the yield-based Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) and weather-based Restructured Weather Based Crop Insurance Scheme. The schemes were initiated in 2016 to provide financial support to farmers suffering crop damage arising out of natural calamities, adverse weather incidents and to stabilise the income of farmers.” Punjab has not opted for the PMFBY.
