On Sunday, H R Khan, the Deputy Governor of Reserve Bank of India (RBI) announced that the debut burden is not the sole reason for the increase in the farmer suicides as he has warned against the recurrent farm loan waivers.
Khan said that ‘prevention is better than cure’ and that there are occasions where the loan waivers are required. However, in the long term, it is significant to ensure that such issues do not occur.
While addressing the gathering at the 34th Foundation Day of Nabard, the RBI Deputy Governor said that there is a contrary between the farmer suicides and agricultural growth. He said that it is almost 0.72 percent. Also, he claimed that when there is a growth, the number of suicide cases is less.
He further claimed that the suicide case of Gajendra Singh Rathore at a political rally held in New Delhi tips that the problem still remains in the nation’s agricultural sector and that many people have hinted at the structural transformation of the same.
Apart from the indebtedness, there are several reasons such as cultural, social, crop failures and ecological factors that have resulted in farmer suicides. He stated these after quoting various studies conducted regarding the same.
The focus has been largely on the agricultural production and it has not been given to increase the farmers’ income, stated Khan. He added that the 70th round of the NSS says that the income of an average farmer is Rs 6,400 per month, and if the expenses and consumption requirements are excluded, the farmer will be left with a superfluous paltry income of Rs 200 a month. He has questioned, how a farmer of this average income can resolve a loan that is of Rs 47,000 per month.
The credit to the agricultural sector has expanded quite exponentially in the past few year, but there are many areas of weakness in the geographical region and class of agriculturists covered.
