The curious case of nonexistent farm loans being waived off in Madhya Pradesh has come to the fore. As the process of granting farm loan waivers is initiated, farmers, who had not even taken loans, started appearing in the list of debtors whose loans are being waived off by the government.
The farmers whose names have wrongfully appeared in the list of debtors have filed their grievances at the local branches of the District Co-operative Central Bank. Farmers have alleged that when there is no loan on their names, how can the government offer waiver?
In the run-up to the Madhya Pradesh assembly elections, Congress had promised farmers loan waiver after getting into power. As the Congress formed its government in MP, the process of loan disbursement has started. Lists of borrowers at the Panchayat level have been published. In these lists, the names of such farmers have cropped up, who have not even taken any loan. The farmers are registering their complaints to the banks. However, the local branches of these co-operative banks are unable to locate the past records of granting credit to the farmers.
The banks have started sifting out the list of borrowers amidst the increasing number of farmers registering their complaints of not being creditors. The farmers are asked to fill a red form and submit it to the local branch to register their grievances. The bank has no inkling of how many such cases exist and is in process of issuing an acknowledgement to the farmers who have filled the red form.
In one particular case, the creditor farmer had already paid his loan amount, yet his name appeared in the list of beneficiaries for the government’s loan waiver. His loan of Rs 31000 was waived off by the government. However, the farmer insists that he has already paid up his loan amount and has a bank receipt to support his claim.
It is notable to mention that a similar case of non-existent names appearing on the list surfaced in Rajasthan as well after the Congress government initiated the loan waiver scheme. Scores of names had then appeared in the list of beneficiaries for the farm loan waiver scheme who had no loans against their names.
The sop of farm loan waiver promised by Congress President Rahul Gandhi during his election is already under fire from various quarters. The lofty promises of farm loan waiver had already taken 3 lives in Madhya Pradesh.
The Congress after assuming power in Madhya Pradesh had cleverly altered the conditions to waive-off farms loans in contrast to their earlier stand. Apart from this, the Congress governments in both Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan are facing severe outrage from the farmers within weeks of their government formation, for mismanaging the supply of urea.
