Ready for more

Defaulters are happy that they will now be eligible for fresh loans, reports Ruchika M. Khanna

The Rs 60,000-crore largesse offered by the Union Finance Minister, to the farming community may not prove to be such a boon after all. Even as farmers are ecstatic over the loan waiver, a vast majority of farmers in North India, who have availed loans from private money lenders, do not stand to benefit.

Though Punjab, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh account for one of the highest incidences of rural indebtedness, it is only Haryana and Himachal Pradesh, who will benefit as a majority of agricultural loans have been processed through banks. Farmers in the two states are ecstatic that their debts have been written off, even as a majority of these "agricultural loans" had been taken for some social function in the family, or for buying luxury goods.

In fact, members of the State Level Bankers Committee, say that agriculture loans account for the highest NPA (non performing assets) levels. This is one of the main reasons why the credit flow in agriculture has remained so slow over the past couple of years.

As one travelled in fields across Haryana and Himachal Pradesh, the ecstasy of farming community could not be missed. In fact, most of the farmers say that with their debts being written off now, they will now be eligible for fresh loans. As Mahinder Singh, a small farmer in village Khedi of Haryana, says, "I had availed an agricultural loan of Rs 60,000, but used it for getting an emergency surgery after I met with an accident. Its been seven years and I have never paid any instalment. With the loan being waived, I will again apply for a fresh loan from another bank".

Supporting his views, his uncle, Raunki Ram, who had stopped paying his instalment on a Rs three lakh loan, says that he too would apply for a fresh agriculture loan. " Ib te meri jameen choot gayi hai. Ib main phir se karja leke apni poti bihayunga. (now that my land will no longer be mortgaged with a bank, I will avail another loan and marry off my grand-daughter)," he says.

In the nearby village of Pyarewala, 67 year old Bachna too is elated at his loan of Rs 10,000 being written off. "I had taken an agriculture loan to buy a house in Naraingarh for my son. He never bothered to pay any instalment, and I was declared a defaulter.," he says, happy that he will not have to die with a debt in his name.

Roop Singh and his brother, Jagpal Singh, both farmers owning one acre each in village MogiNand in district Sirmaur of Himachal Pradesh, had obtained a loan of Rs 25,000 each, to marry off their sister. "We had told the bank that we wanted to buy a tractor and the loan was sanctioned. After we got the loan, we never paid back any instalment as we had no money," they say. In fact, almost every second household in this village, located on the fringes of Kala Amb, has availed an agricultural loan and used it for non-agricultural purposes. Like Surinder Pal, who availed Rs 10,000 loan to buy fertilisers, but instead used it set up a road-side tea and snack kiosk.

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