Opinion | Editorials
Action still speaks louder than words
The Indian economy relies on agriculture so farmers must not be sold short.
- Gulf News
- Published: 00:07 May 18, 2008
For a country where more than 700 million of the population still directly depends on agriculture, it would be reasonable to think the government would do its utmost to protect that industry.
But sadly the Indian government does not do enough, which results in still too many farmers seeking their way out of debt and bankruptcy by committing suicide.
The phenomenon of Indian farmers taking their own lives is not new, it has been around for some time and it is now reckoned that around 17,500 farmers a year choose this way out, which only aggravates the problem for those they leave behind - the wives and children.
In its April 2008 budget the government set aside $15 billion to give to farmers as loan waivers. But there was a catch. The first was, the loans had to be ones taken from banks, and the waivers were only to those farmers who had less than two hectares of land.
It quickly became obvious that such generosity would not meet the farmers' requirements. Over 80 per cent had borrowed money from unregistered or illegal money lenders so could not prove their indebtedness.
And many of the remainder had more than two hectares of land, and would probably be most in need of financial relief. So the budget announcement, probably made in good faith to attract more votes in next April's general elections, may appear generous on the surface but would fail to materialise for the majority. This is why the suicides continue.
Rather than hand out large sums of money, which may or may not get through to the farmer, it is better for the government to concentrate on issues such as legitimate micro-lending schemes and irrigation to replenish dried-up wells farmers have had to abandon. To an impoverished and desperate farmer, such action means more than campaign promises.
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