As farm debt drives Punjab farmers to suicide, loan waiver demand set to gain momentum

Farmer outfits in Punjab say they will be forced to start an agitation against the State AAP government if a complete farm loan debt waiver is not announced shortly

A recent study on farmers’ suicide in Punjab by Ludhiana-based Punjab Agricultural University (PAU) has revealed that in six districts of the State, as many as 9,291 farmers have died by suicide between the years 2000-2018 and around 88% of the suicide cases were a fallout of farm-related debts.

The relatively higher number of debt-related suicides is all set to bring the issue of ‘farm loan debt waiver’ yet again into the spotlight in the near future as farmer outfits across the State are planning to corner the ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government on their long-pending demand to announce a complete farm loan debt waiver.

“Farmers suicides across the State are only rising, the government should waive all outstanding loans, whether private or government loans, against the farmers and labourers. We were hoping some concrete step would be announced in this direction in the State budget, but there’s nothing. The government has not even given any road map surrounding steps for sustaining the agriculture sector. ”Sarvan Singh PandherGeneral Secretary, Punjab unit of Kisan Mazdoor Sangharsh Committee

“Farmers have been demanding a complete loan waiver for long but successive governments have not paid any heed towards it. The current AAP government’s attitude towards farm loan waivers is also disappointing. If the government’s apathy towards farmers continued, then farmers of different outfits will join hands and start agitation against the State government. If by September 15, the government doesn’t take a decisive step on loan waiver, we will under the umbrella of Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM) begin our struggle for loan waiver,” Jagmohan Singh, general secretary of Bharatiya Kisan Union Ekta (Dakaunda) told The Hindu on Sunday.

Sarvan Singh Pandher, general secretary of the Punjab unit of Kisan Mazdoor Sangharsh Committee, said the Punjab government should ensure complete loan waiver for farmers and simultaneously work on a policy to make farming profitable, for which announcing and purchasing crops at Minimum Support Price (MSP) is the first important step that needs to be taken by the government.

“Farmers suicides across the State are only rising, the government should waive all outstanding loans, whether private or government loans, against the farmers and labourers. We were hoping some concrete step would be announced in this direction in the State budget, but there’s nothing. The government has not even given any road map surrounding steps for sustaining the agriculture sector. We are not pinning high hopes on the AAP government, but let’s wait for another 2-3 months; if no steps are initiated for loan waiver and other demands of farmers, we will be forced to start an agitation,” he said.

Sukhdev Singh Korikalan, general secretary of Bharatiya Kisan Union (Ugrahan), one of the largest outfits in Punjab, also firmly believes that it is important that the government should announce a complete loan waiver. “It’s the ill-conceived policies of Centre and State governments that have resulted in farmers falling into debt traps. The key reason for farmers getting into the debt trap is the lack of MSP on all crops. We want that MSP should be announced for all crops and also its purchase to be guaranteed,” he said.