The constituency of indebted farmers in Uttar Pradesh is large enough to tilt the electoral balance in the state. And the Congress may have a point in making common cause with them. But will the idea work as well as party leaders hope it will?
As reported by the Quint on 31 August, the Congress is likely to press for a farm loan waiver scheme and party Vice-President Rahul Gandhi’s ambitious 2,500-km-long Deoria to Delhi Kisan Padyatra is aimed at wooing farmers.
According to a National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO) report, Uttar Pradesh has the maximum number of farm households, at nearly 1.8 crore, in the country. And the state is home to the highest number of indebted farm households at nearly 80 lakh. What makes this group vulnerable is the fact that nearly 18 percent of them are below the poverty line and some 21 percent do not have ration cards, depriving them of the benefits of food security schemes.
While the average ticket size of loan is Rs 27,300, the NSSO data shows that many farmers own less than 5 hectares of land but carry a far higher burden of debt.
There are a large number of farmers who own 2 to 4 hectares of land but carry debt in excess of Rs 1 lakh, according to the report. This group is more vulnerable to weather shocks and fluctuating prices of agricultural products. In case of change in any of the variables, farmers are susceptible to fall into debt trap.