Karza maafi

Maharashtra- the state which carved a special place in history with the largest number of farmer suicides in a span of one year also witnessed another important event along with the rest of the country- ‘the world’s richest cricket tournament’- Indian Premier League (IPL). We cannot call this govt. to be a biased govt. who mainly works as a ‘pro-poor people’ or is an ‘aam aadmi’ govt. if the Govt. gives a Rs.9, 310 crore Loan waiver for the poor people of Maharashtra, then the IPL also gets a waiver of Rs.10 crore. Mumbai will host 10 IPL matches including the final. The govt. of Maharashtra is said to have given a waiver of Rs.10 crore in revenue only. The direct recipient of this loan will be the rich businessmen and the film stars of Mumbai who found pleasure in auctioning teams and players. According to law, any event of amusement, whether be it a cricket match or any cultural event has to pay the entertainment tax. Though the IPL will hold 10 matches in Mumbai, it will not pay the tax. This is not for the first time that tax is being written off by the Govt. The BCCI always had political blessings. But it is also not for the first time that tax is being exempted by the govt- whether state or union. If we look at the period from 2000-2004, we will see that the nationalized bank wrote off Rs.44, 000 crore. Most of this went to a small number of affluent people. The most glaring example was the write off given to a company owned by Ketan Parekh group. The write-off in this case was Rs. 60 crore. However, those waivers were given mutely.
In 2004, the last reigning year of the NDA, the write-off percentage went up to 16% and has never come down since then. If this is the figure with the rich people, then how much a poor can expect? Behold. The number of farmers in Maharashtra owning less than one hectare land is 7.2 million and a like number of them have accounts in banks. The total outstanding against the accounts is Rs.20,499 crores. If we take a closer look we will see that it is the same amount the bank writes-off as bad debt in the manufacturing sector. Now, the number of farmers owning land between one to two hectares is 5.9 millions. Similarly, a like number if them have accounts in banks and the amount outstanding in their name is Rs. 20,758 crores, which makes that some 13 million people have outstanding of less than Rs.44,000 crores which has been written-off, by almost Rs.3,000 crores. The NDA govt. can give the waiver to the rich people but what did the poor get? Yet after such a budget by UPA, which gave farm loan waiver analysis of which was done by CEOs of companies and stock brokers, and business editors (what a pity!!), some attractive face on the TV screen will say –“now some budget bad news. India Inc.’s plea for a cut from the corporate tax went unheeded.”
The Union budget this year carried a loan waiver of Rs. 60,000 crore for the farm people. But there was also a spoil game played by Union Agriculture Minister Mr. Sharad Pawar (also known as ‘cricket minister’). Regardless of, why the waiver came in 2008 only, let us have a look how it was distributed.
The most crisis area of Maharashtra was Vidarbh and Yavatmal. But why more loan was given to the farmers outside Vidarbh? Why more loan went to West Maharashtra- Mr. Sharad Pawar’s strong foothold? The sugarcane farmers of Vidarbh outside Rs. 13,000 per acre as average crop loan. Apart from this, Rs.18, 000 per acre was given to the farmers for drip irrigation. And the grape growers outside Vidarbh saw the pinnacle- Rs. 80,000 per acre as average loan. But, Vidarbh farmers got average loan of Rs.4,440 per acre.
The IPL reports came shortly after CAG reported on ‘Farmer’s Packages’ in the state. Though, the report carried the information that the number of suicides increased to 1414 in 2006-07, the MLAs did not pay any heed. The CAG said that no proper attempt was made for the evaluation of distress. Tens of crores of rupees for farmers in the state were never spent; cheques given to people were dishonoured because of ‘want of cash.’ The self-help groups were given subsidies in excess. Parts of farm loans were not released at all. A major part of the loan went under-utilized. This how a fund of Rs.4, 825 crore was utilized by the Govt. so why is this 10-crore loan for IPL? The CAG also reported that the when the farmers of Maharashtra wanted some assistance for real price, the Govt was busy. giving waiver to IPL. Matters like seed requirement were dealt indifferently.
In the state this year, there have been over 360 farm suicides and 200 of them pre-waiver with 153 in January and February, then calculate how many in post-waiver? Though, the Govt. regarded only 18 of them as eligible, it did not forget to give waiver to IPL, the real people who need ‘waiver’.