Telangana Farmers Urge for Effective Debt Relief Commission Amidst Crisis

Hyderabad: With climatic conditions playing truant, the fortunes of farmers have never been more precarious. A loan waiver by the state government, too, farmers associations say, does not guarantee that farmers will not slip into debt again.

Farmers fall into debt owing to problems that stalk them from spurious seeds to shortage of institutional credit, natural calamities, lack of MSP (minimum support price) and even export and import policies which play havoc with their fortunes.

“In this milieu they say there is a dire need to reconstitute the state commission for debt relief for small and marginal farmers. The crop insurance scheme is still at the planning stage in the state,” said Sarampally Malla Reddy, All India Kishan Sabha state vice-president, hence the need for a functioning commission.

The Telangana Commission For Debt Relief (Small Farmers, Agricultural Labourers And Rural Artisans) Act, 2016, which was passed by the BRS government after a public interest litigation was filed in the High Court seeking it.

“We functioned without any judicial powers to arbitrate between the moneylender and the farmers who approach us. Rules and regulations were not laid out, despite repeated pleas and reminders to the government. If the rules were framed, we could have settled debts by arbitrating between the farmer and lender, ” Pakala Srihari Rao, member of the debt relief commission, said.

“The relief could be by way of even giving extended time to pay, reducing interest or even the principal amount. The commission should have been allowed to declare a mandal, one or more districts drought hit and distressed. This would have enjoined the banks to reschedule loans among other reliefs. The rulings given by us would be binding on the government,” he said.