Rs 69,355 crores of debt that's killing Punjab farmers

-The Times of India

PATIALA: The figure of Rs 70,000 crore cropped up frequently in 2015. This was the total amount that mutual fund firms invested in equity markets. This was also the amount that India offered to pay Russia to acquire anti-ballistic missile systems in what is considered the biggest defence deal between the two countries. Also, the Union finance minister proposed an increase in investment in infrastructure by Rs 70,000 crore in 2015-16.

Now, consider the fact that the overall burden of debt on farmers of Punjab today is almost as big as what the entire country invested in mutual funds last year or the size of India's biggest defence deal with Russia!

A survey by Punjabi University, Patiala, has put the outstanding debt on farmers of the state at a staggering Rs 69,355 crore.

Of this, Rs 56,481 crore is owed to the institutional sector and Rs 12,874 crore is to be payable to private lenders. This may also explain why there has been a string of suicides by farmers in the state in the past couple of years.The survey covered 1,007 farm households in Hoshiarpur, Ludhiana and Mansa districts in the financial year 2014-15. It was sponsored by the Indian Council for Social Sciences and Research (ICSSR), Chandigarh.

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