REPORT OF LATE VASANTRAO NAIK SHETI SWAVALAMBAN MISSION (VNSSM) TO GOVT. OF MAHARASHTRA

GOVERNMENT  OF   MAHARASHTRA

LATE  VASANTRAO  NAIK  SHETI  SWAVALAMBAN  MISSION (VNSSM)

Office at: Divisional  Commissioner Office, Camp AMRAVATI-444602

Ph. No. 0721-2662034 FAX : 0721-2662782
PRESIDENT (Minister of State Rank)  

M-09422108846 email: kishortiwari@gmail.com

KISHORE  TIWARI,                                                         Dated- 17 November 2020

B.E.(Mech. Engg.), MBA, LL.B., M.A. (Pub.Admn.),
M.I.S. (USA), Fellow – I.E.H., Fellow – CA.
(Chartered Engineer)
PRESIDENT (Minister of State Rank) 
LATE VASANTRAO NAIK  SHETI SWAVALAMBAN MISSION (VNSSM)

REPORT OF LATE  VASANTRAO  NAIK  SHETI  SWAVALAMBAN  MISSION (VNSSM) TO GOVT. OF MAHARASHTRA

OBJECT OF THE REPORT

TO START D.I.F. INTIATIVE

 

Date – 17 NOV. 2020

 

 

PLACE- MUMBAI

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

REPORT

 

 

Once again Maharashtra This Year too has been rocked with news of farmers suicides taking toll to more than 3000 innocent farmers urging newly elected Maharashtra to tackle agrarian crisis addressing core issues of 3 decade old issue of farmers suicides and restoration of rural economy in order to implement   integrated the program by establishing first Maharashtra Farmers' Rights Commission ( MFRC)

under his chairmanship with full judicial power in line with  Human Rights Commission and powered independent experts to address core issues related to

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Maharashtra Agrarian crisis is revolving  around mainly on four core issues related to   :

 

C1+C2+C3+R=Farmers Genocide

 

 

C1- CREDIT CRISIS

C2-COST CRISIS

C3-CROP PATTERN PROMOTION SELECTION AND REGULATION

R-RISK MANAGEMENT SYSTEM AND FAULTY DISASTER MANAGEMENT

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

BEST CROP INITIATIVE

 

Wrong Crop Promotion without Proper Initiatives and Parameters is cause of Agrarian  Crisis  

 

 

 

 

 

1- (A)Farm Credit Policy (Enclosed) 

 

Farm Credit supply policy or focus on investment and development in the rural as well as agricultural sector for the last 30 years has been miserably failed as there is almost constant drop in compulsory direct credit to the farmers and bumper systematic increase in  institutional finance in the name of priority sector to the agriculture sector achievement by giving 80% target to  the Agri-Business and Agri-Rural sector NBFCs and micro finance companies in rural areas owned by PSU Banks and industrial houses .hence  new farm credit policy with complete revolution in present system  and under full regulatory control of state  and giving status of industry to agriculture is must otherwise farm loan waiver will annual activity every year and diversion of development fund in the rural and agriculture sector will result in delay and slowdown in on-going projects .

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(B)National Farm Debt Tribunal  (NFDT) in line with National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT)   

 

The Central Government has constituted National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) under section 408 of the Companies Act, 2013 (18 of 2013) w.e.f. 01st June 2016.In the first phase the Ministry of Corporate Affairs have set up eleven Benches, one Principal Bench at New Delhi and one each Regional Benches at New Delhi, Ahmedabad, Allahabad, Bengaluru, Chandigarh, Chennai, Guwahati,Jaipur, Hyderabad, Kolkata and Mumbai. Subsequently more benches at Cuttack, Jaipur, Kochi ,Amravati, and Indore have been setup and waived off loan and interest  amounting around 14 lacs crore  hence national bail out package fro farmers and rural sector is must and it should be not less than 3 lach crore and this direct infusion of money in rural economy not only address agrarian crisis but national recession 

As BJP led NDA Govt. is trying their level-best to divert most serious economic crisis being faced by the wrong policies and non-performing and non-professional functioning of present finance minister of India as her all attempts to give fresh incentive and bailout packages in the all industrial, commercial and service sectors to take them out from on-going slowdown but it has failed too serve it's purpose to bring back the GDP on track hence to reverse the present trend of recession and economic  crisis to pump at-least Rs.3 lach crore as special "National Agrarian Bailout Package “in line with Power, Banking ,Auto and FMG sector as any direct national investment in India's  self-sufficient and most deserving agriculture sector which is facing the complete rural crisis and severe economic collapse resulting in the deep depression forcing agrarian community to kill themselves as this is outcome of wrong policies adopted in banking, import-export, development and poor infrastructure and environmental issues arising out of climate change hence agrarian bailout package is must .

The progressive states like Punjab , Telangana, Andhra pradesh,Gujarat ,Rajsthan,MadhyapradeshM.P.,Maharashtra have given  farm loan waiver amounting more than Rs.2lach crore and local subsidises and relief packages amounting more than Rs. 2 lach crore but these state owned bailout packers miserably failed due wrong policies of central Govt. in the field of import export ,direct investment , RBI regulated farm credit policy and non-profitable faulty  support price MSP due to nonprofessional functioning of CACP and NITI AYOG as both minister and experts on concern bodies are too hostile to tackle these economic issues due to nondemocratic functioning of PMO hence drastic changes in present policies and programmes are needed.

 

 

 

 

 

 

2- Regulator for  Cost of cultivation or Cost of Farming

 

The all attempts of present NDA Govt. in last 6 years to regulate or reduce both the cost of cultivation or the farmers’ expenses in agriculture has been too hostile to control due to frequent climate change, poor moisture retention programme, failure of rainwater harvesting and watershed programme ,  further degradation soil health due to   wrong chemical farming and withdrawal of subsidies moreover the heavy chemical use in agriculture has resulted in all economic, health and environmental issues, the state should try to bring agriculture into the concurrent list to regulate cost of cultivation.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

3.Equal Distribution of Water Resources as well as control of Rainwater  and Ground water resources.

 

Although the water controller is presently operating in Maharashtra, the demand for water for agriculture and other uses has increased by over three times in the last decade due to the increasing crisis of rainwater and underground water hence MFRC will address issue effectively to have rational use of water to keep development and environment intact . 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

4.Control of Crop Pattern With Initiatives and sanctions of stakeholders

 

The present era of Globalisation and faulty Import-Export policies to protect all lobbies in the textile ,oil, pluses and sugar sectors the promotion of faulty cash crops and low export incentive to our perennials cash crop and massive import of cheap food, oilseeds or pulses are the root cause of collapse of rural economy and present distress in rural community resulting in farmer suicides hence selection of crops in areas of   food, oilseeds or pulses should be promoted by proper direct subsidies and quantitative restriction of import of such items and proper promotion of agrarian crisis prone areas cash crops like cotton and soybean . MFRC will address these issues with judicial authority.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

5-Minimum Support Price And State Intervention

 

 

State should be empowered to have their own policy for fixing the Minimum Support Price (MSP ) by appointing their own panel of experts ond S.A.C.P. by excising their own EXIM policies . Price stabilization fund is created tuning to the at least RS. 2 LAKH crore  to stop national distress sale of agriculture produce 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

6- Disaster Management System

 

 

A-}PMFBY- In all the advanced nations, there is an proper insurance and risk management system that is capable of managing disasters in a untimely climate change crisis or man-made crisis and state is not involved in such risk management and huge compensation pay-outs ,the Prime Minister Fasal Bima Yojna has failed  served its purpose due it's operational difficulties and non-farmer friendly term of reference and stringent conditions .after marathon discussion with stakeholders  Maharashtra state govt. has forwarded more-than 15 strong recommendations but GOI follow-ups are almost nil .

  

B)NDRF and SDRF 

 

 

 

hence  roll of NDRF presently very limited due poor infrastructure and state level SDRF setups and nonprofessional bureaucratic control and lack of experts hence  issue of non-functioning of SDRF has made state disaster management activity ttoo hostile too depend upon non-professional and hostile govt. corrupt machinery hence drastic changes is the needed to tackle issues of climate change , wrong chemical farming ,faulty WTO policies and monopolies of  handful MNCs  to exploit third world countries .

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

7.Agricultural produc Protection and Agricultural Storage and  Processing System at village level

 

Since the government cannot do any business and it is wrong to try it, it is necessary to have separate price stabilization funds and a corruption free system of intermediaries to maintain MSP in the open market, to maintain storage capacity with financial support to mortgage by local bank in each the village, village should produce poison-free food, pulses and oils or vegetables. Village should have proper school, health centre, and govt. administrative building and staff quarters for all employees employed in the village

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

GOVERNMENT  OF   MAHARASHTRA

LATE  VASANTRAO  NAIK  SHETI  SWAVALAMBAN  MISSION (VNSSM)

Office at: Divisional  Commissioner Office, Camp AMRAVATI-444602

Ph. No. 0721-2662034 FAX : 0721-2662782
PRESIDENT (Minister of State Rank)  

M-09422108846 email: kishortiwari@gmail.com

KISHORE  TIWARI,
B.E.(Mech. Engg.), MBA, LL.B., M.A. (Pub.Admn.),
M.I.S. (USA), Fellow – I.E.H., Fellow – CA.
(Chartered Engineer)
PRESIDENT (Minister of State Rank) 
LATE VASANTRAO NAIK  SHETI SWAVALAMBAN MISSION (VNSSM)
M-09422108846  email id - kishortiwari@gmail.com

DRAFT on  “FARM CREDIT POLICY 2020-21”

As President of VNSS Mission, I am entrusted by the Hon’ble Chief Minister Shri. Udhavji Thakare to make Maharashtra free from the farm distress and there should be “NO Suicide” due to agrarian reasons. The Mission has started to work on this theme. 

As per NCRB data, since 1997 more than 50% farmers’ suicides are due to Debt and Bankruptcy. More than 70% dry land farmers have small and marginal land holding that drastically limited their crop loan with ceiling of maximum to 2 lakhs. For last one decade, the bankers’ approach towards agrarian community is negative and fascinates elimination to curb the acute farm distress. 

The restoration of Farm Credit is MUST. The present coverage of only 30% farmers in the banking network and has to be widened to 100 % on urgent basis. All the needy farmers should be given Farm Credit on priority before start of the agricultural season. Advancing the farm credit from 1St April to 15th May 2020 shall help them to be ready for coming agriculture season and reduce their stress and strain. The Mission sets this as its FIRST Goal. I am confident that we will achieve this with our persuasion and dedication in the interest of farmers.

The Govt. of Maharashtra is, thus, strongly urged to take following steps on priority for welfare of the formers. The recommendations of the National Commission on Farmers, chaired by Prof. M. S. Swaminathan (five reports from December 2004 to October 2006) and the recommendations of Dr. Narendra Jadhav Committee should be adopted forthwith to surmount the agrarian crisis- 

• Policy Reform: Substantial flow of Farm Credit and Insurance to all farmers:

Adequate supply of credit in appropriate time is the basic requirement of small farmers. The undisputed recommendations of NCF in this regards are as under:

• Expand the outreach of the formal credit system to reach the really poor and needy.

• Reduce rate of interest for crop loans to 4 per cent simple, with government support.

• Moratorium on debt recovery, including loans from non-institutional sources, and waiver of interest on loans in distress hotspots and during calamities, till capability is restored.

• Establish an Agriculture Risk Fund to provide relief to farmers in the aftermath of successive natural calamities.

• Issue Kisan Credit Cards to women farmers, with joint pattas as collateral.

• Develop an integrated credit-cum-crop-livestock-human health insurance package.

• Expand crop insurance cover to cover the entire state and all crops, with reduced premiums and create a Rural Insurance Development Fund to take up development work for spreading rural insurance.

• Promote sustainable livelihoods for the poor by improving (i) Financial services (ii) Infrastructure (iii) Investments in human development, agriculture and business development services (including productivity enhancement, local value addition, and alternate market linkages) and (iv) Institutional development services (forming and strengthening producers' organizations such as self-help groups and water user associations).

WE Strongly support all above recommendations. The urgent need of hour is to bring all farmers in the net of banking credit and cover them under farm credit by April 2020 to curb their stress and strain. This is the FIRST Goal of the Mission

The recommendation of Dr. Narendra Jadhav Committee on Supply of Credit by Reorganization of Rural Financial Institutions should be implemented forthwith. There is a need of restructuring the rural financial institutions and also making them socially more sensitive. In the case of co-operative banks, suggestions of Vaidyanathan Committee should be implemented expeditiously. 

While advancing farm credit banks often place a number of undue restrictions and rigid criteria about season, cropping pattern, scale of finance, etc. Thus, Dr. Narendra Jadhav Committee’s recommendations on Agricultural Credit Planning advocating flexibility should be adopted. In this regard, instead of the prevailing annual cropping pattern consideration, an average cropping pattern for five years minimum should be used in setting limit and advancing loans. The task of reformulating the scale of finance should be delegated to the State Level Farmers Mission headed by cm proposed plan enclosed which will powers like MHRC etc , an independent professional institution.

The massive Debt-Waiver scheme implemented in the year 2007-08 then in 2019 had not addressed the indebtedness arising from the non-institutional creditors. Adoption of Dr. Narendra Jadhav Committee’s recommendations on the Alternate to Money Lenders is need of the hour.  The effective alternative to the prevailing system of moneylenders should be created for relieving the farmers from their clutches. In this regard, a Plan for ‘Moneylender-free Village’ may be formulated on the following lines: 

• At least one member of each family in the village should become a member of some Self-help Group (SHG) in the village. 

• Every rural and semi-urban branch of each bank should adopt one village in its jurisdiction. 

Since, at least one member of every family in the village would be a member of SHG which is a source of institutional credit, a 100 per cent financial inclusion would be achieved. As a result within three-year the village can be made free from the indebtedness centering on moneylenders.

Hence, VNSSM proposes the policy and time bound programme to Govt. of Maharashtra and also to GOI so that all 14 million farmers in acute distress conditions will get fresh institutional credit by April-2020. For that matter, the complete ‘farm debt and fresh farm credit’ data covering all villages and farmers should be made available to VNSSM. After data analysis, plans shall be drawn, recommended for implementation. In the course, the required credit flow from RBI should be available without hitch. Such an operation on priority shall make 14 farm distress districts free from social stigma and no farmers should kill himself due to farm debt and bankruptcy.

VNSSM urges the state to scrap present crop loan policy. Instead, proposes the 5 years crop loan policy, engulfing medium and long term loans, It should be made operative without indulging on the necessities of farm and personal priorities of farmers like ward’s education, expensive critical health care, daughter’s marriage, etc. The Farm Loan Committee of the village, tahsil and sub-divisional level should be empowered to monitor the time bound disbursement of loan to farmers. 

VNSSM also urges the GOM that the present medium – long term debt, after wavering total interest, should be adjusted in five year farm credit with flexibility of repayment till the end of five years. However, land holding area should be considered in limiting quantum of loan ceiling.

VNSSM strongly suggests adopting the aforesaid farm credit policy to save farmers from killing themselves which is serious bolt on the state. The allocation of requisite fund and its availability in time should be ensured to address agrarian crisis being the only solution. Any administrative or political hurdle should be extinguished at its inception. If the state is facing fund crisis, then imposition of “agro strengthening special taxation” and ‘bailout package’ should be proposed within next three months. The policy should be made operational latest by December 2020.

VNSSM strongly feels that farm credit flow plan should be implemented with total dedication and seriousness from all section of administration to curb farm distress and stop on going farmers suicides. VNSSM proposes to GOM the following action plan for urgent consideration and approval so that ED of VNSSM can expeditiously take up the matter with all stake holders including Central and State Govt., Lawmakers, Executives within next 15 days, requesting  their valued suggestion to submit final draft by the end of March 2020 .

The proposed action plan to fresh farm credit to all farmers in 14 farm suicide prone distressed districts is as under–

1. Village committee, Talthi, Gram Sevek, Society Secretary, Service Area Bank Manager will have to prepare micro farm debt data enlisting the farmers’ present debt and admissible fresh crop loan amount for term of five years based on their land holding. 

2. ED VNSSM will collect data, work out detailed plan and submit to Hon’ble CM to get approval including allocation and release of funds to implement VNSSM Farm Credit Policy.

3. Fresh Farm Credit disbursement will be done from 1 April 2020 to 15 May 2021 under supervision of District Administration and entrusting SDM with statutory and penal powers.  

4. State should set up Special Court in the form of Farm Debt Tribunal in each taluka to curb farm distress and matters related to the debt from Institutional institute NBFC and private money lenders.

5. Farmers’ suicides should be investigated and cases of based on Agrarian and extreme distress should be made admissible for all social security network and extensions.

Farm loan is one of the major issues of rural distress. VNSSM is also examining other aspects critically. I am deeply confident that with your full esteemed support ‘We will make Maharashtra Farm Distress Free’.

Kishor Tiwari, 

Farm Activist

President- VNSSM 

Reforms in Fasal Bima Yojna  

Games Governments Play with insurance corporations as partners

Let us say we have100 farmers with a combined holding of 190 acres
 90 are small farmers   holding 1 acre each
10 are big irrigated farmers owning 100 acres between them
90 small farmers• Harvest on average 8 quintals of paddy each • = 720 quintals in all
10 big irrigated farmers• yields of 15 quintals each per acre • = 1,500 quintals total.
Total yield
• 2,220 from 190 acres
• or 11.7 quintals per acre (Threshold yield)
• Crop yield averages are taken from the best five of the last seven years – threshold yield
• The crop insurance scheme treats farmers as individuals when collecting premium
• But treats them as a group in what is called an ‘area-based’ approach
• For premiums, they are individuals.
• When it comes to assessing claims and distributing compensation, they become a group – but not an equal, homogenous one.
• There is a heavy dose of class discrimination thrown i
• ‘Area-based’ approach means different things in different states
• In Maharashtra it could be a block, in another state a panchayat  or a mandal. In AP it is a village
• Basically, some revenue units, or cluster of villages in a district
• It is not the average yield of the farmer that counts, but of his or her unit
• So for our 100 farmer unit, the average combines yields of two very different groups.
• The average of the irrigated guys is 1500 or 15 quintals per acre
• For the 90 small farmers, 8 quintals per acre
• Along comes a drought or other crop failure
• Small guys average drops from 8 quintals to 3 = 270 quintals
• But big ones, being irrigated, suffer no loss of output: 15 = 1,500
• The unit’s total is now 1,770 (9.31 quintal per acre) – 450 quintals below ‘average’ yield. That is below normal by close to 20 percent.
• Under the revised guidelines, this loss will be compensated by making a payout to all farmers in that area or unit proportionate to the size of their land holding
• So the better off farmers, who may have lost nothing, will collar the lion’s share of the ‘compensation.’
• This violates the most basic principle of insurance. With no losses, they make a profit from the losses of othersLet’s say the compensation declared for the unit is Rs.10 lakhs
The 90 small drought-devastated farmers will getRs. 5,263 each
The 10 big irrigated farmers will get roughly Rs.52,630 each against zero loss  ....Welcome to the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana
• In Andhra Pradesh, from 1985 (Comprehensive Crop Insurance Sheme), the claim ratio was 63 per cent. The All-India average was 72 per cent)
• From 2016 onwards, following introduction of PMFBY, it has fallen to 58 per cent.
• Certainly, it is fair that the ten farmers who have paid much more by way of premium (on ten acres each) should be proportionally compensated.
• But the system as it stands means they can get over 52 per cent of the total compensation even where they have not lost a single rupee worth of crop.
• This devastating critique is from a woman farmer in Tamil Nadu
• What, she asks, if this approach was applied to life insurance or general insurance?
•Just see her answer
• “A woman whose husband dies would only be eligible for compensation if a large number of other women in the same unit also lose their husband 

In the first 24 months of the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana, 18 insurance companies made a profit of Rs. 15,795 crores, according to RTI data published in The Tribune, Chandigarh on Nov. 13, 2018. That is a profit of, on average, Rs. 21.9 crore a day, every day, for two years.
In July 2019, the prime minister’s own state of Gujarat wrote to the Centre asking that this, his flagship scheme, be made voluntary.
It suggested it wanted to replace the PMFBY with one of its own design

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This is classic presentation 

 

 

Farm activist 

Kishor Tiwari 

M-09422108846 

 email id - kishortiwari@gmail.com