Condemn the callous attitude of the Rajasthan and Central governments towards farmers
Hundreds of farmers of the Hanumangarh district of Rajasthan who have planted pomegranate (anars) saplings in their farms since 2005-2006 have gone bankrupt.
Condemn the callous attitude of the Rajasthan and Central governments towards farmers
Hundreds of farmers of the Hanumangarh district of Rajasthan who have planted pomegranate (anars) saplings in their farms since 2005-2006 have gone bankrupt. For the past 4 years, they have been demanding that the concerned agricultural and horticultural departments of the Central and State governments fulfill their promises to the farmers. However, the requests of the farmers have fallen on deaf years. As the farmers say, there has been a lot of paper action and passing of the buck between different ministries, but no relief on the ground.
It may be noted that in 2005-20006, as part of the plan of the National Horticultural Board (Rashtriya Bagvani Board) to promote Horticulture farming, the officials of the Board came to encourage the farmers of Hanumangarh totake up pomegranate farming. These officialscarried out a massive promotional campaign including seminars, and promised all kinds of incentives;they also created a rosy picture of how much monies the farmers would make from switching from traditional crops to pomegranate farming. They organized training camps. They distributed literature in which it was explicitly mentioned that Hanumangarh district was in every way extremely suitable for growing anars. The officials announced that 20% of the capital required for the plantations would be provided as grant by the NHB. The officials of the NHB directed the farmers to buy the necessary inputs from certain companies. They organized meetings of the farmers with specialists working in these companies. The NHB officials also declared that that only those farmers would get the grant who followed strictly the following norms — the farmers must construct diggis intheir farms, they must adopt drip irrigation, (boond boond padvati), protect the farms with barbed wire fencing , take loans from banks, and then plant anar saplings. They were also asked to construct housing for agricultural workers working on their farms as per the instructions of the NHB. Trusting the NHB officials and the government, many farmers of the district began converting their farms to anarfarms in the period 2005-2008.
For this, they created infrastructure including diggi construction, drip irrigation, electric motors or diesel pump sets, storage house, and residential quarters for workers in their farms. To be eligible for the grant, they had to take loan from the banks which all farmers did.
Anar trees flower after three years. When the farmers looked hopefully for a good crop in 20008, they were in for complete disappointment. The anars were spotted, diseased and broke up on their own.
The farmers contacted the Department officials, but there was no assistance from them. Only after the farmers went public in the media and complained to all possible officials, did teams from the department care to visit the farms in September 2009. These included people from the Agricultural University as well as from the Agricultural Department. A month later, a team from the National Anar Research Center from Solapur (Maharashtra) surveyed the farms. This team clearly stated in its report that there was bacterial blight in the crops. The team blamed the farmers for using infected saplings. They alleged that the farmers had on their bought the anar saplings from Malegaon in Maharashtra,whereas the truth is that the farmers simply followed the instructions of the officials of the Board.
After this, the concerned departmentdeclared that a maximum of 50% of the cost per hectare of using herbicides, pesticides, fertilizers, etc., necessary to get rid of the bacterial blight or Rs.25,000 would be provided as grant under provisions of the Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana. This too was provided only to those farmers who had planted anar saplings before September 2007. In fact, the farmers spent Rs.51,000 per hectare in this manner and got back Rs.25,000 per hectare. However, all this expenditure did not result in a revival of their crops. After this, the farmers lost all hope. They wrote letters to the Chief Minister and to all concerned officials. No action has been taken on the ground to provide them relief. Instead, the banks are hounding the farmers for repayment of the loans and interest. The farmers have not only lost the regular income they would have got if they had stuck to traditional crops, they are saddled with massive debt to the banks, and no income for several years.
According to a reply to a RTI question raised by a concerned farmer, the Horticultural department has distributed nearly 3 lakh anar saplings in Hanumangarh District alone in the period 2005-2006 to 2009-2010.
With a 100% destruction of their crops, the farmers are correctly raising the issue of compensation from the state government. Even the reports of the government departments admit that 95% crop damage has taken place. The Rajasthan and Central governments are guilty of the most dastardly attack on the livelihood of these farmers. The farmers have been driven to complete ruin because they implemented the agricultural policy of the central and state governments and followed strictly the instructions of the national Horticultural Board.
The farmers are demanding compensation for the crops that have failed for so many years, and the waiver of the mounting debts to the banks. These are absolutely just demands.
Mazdoor Ekta Lehar condemns the Central government and the Rajasthan government for their callous attitude to the plight of the anar farmers of Hanumangarh district. It demands that the government immediately compensate the farmers for the losses they have suffered these past 7 years because of following the directive of the NHB. The government must ensure that the banks waive the loans provided to the farmers.