Thousands
of Vidarbha Farmers Beat Drum and offered Mass Prayer to ‘FM’ ‘to get Fresh
Crop Loan before SBI
Nagpur 26th AUGUST 2013
Thousands of debt-traped distress farmers took unique way of protest by
beating drum and offering mass paryer before the photo of indian
finace minister p.chidambaram demanding
fresh credit to all dying farmers of wast vidarbha as 3 million farmers in
suicide hit vidarbha region of maharashtra who are already facing a wet
drought, are also finding it difficult to secure loans for sowing expenses and
this is first protest which was orgnized at SBI branch PARVA in Ghatangi
taluka of Yavatmal district which is knowm as farm suicide capital of india
.thousands of debt trapped farmers will beat drum before SBI barnch and same
time hundreds of farm widows will perform mass prayer before the photo
of indian finace minister p.chidambaram for his kind intervention
to solve on going credit cruch to agrarian community on monday 26th august ,Kishore
Tiwari of vidarbha jan andolan samiti (VJAS) informed today .
SBI officer are deying orders of
administration and crop Loans are a necessity for farmers in Vidarbha who are
trapped in debt due to Poor economics of farming hardly leaves any investible
surplus with them for next crop ,facing the clamity of heavy rain and flood
forcing to afrmers to kill themselves,Tiwari added.
SBI has been involved in farm credit
scam as per matter reported in TIMES OF INDIA
QUOTE
SBI cover up to lower farm loan losses
A massive exercise over the last two
months in State Bank of India branches across India saw farm loan accounts
being tweaked to show the current season's standing crop as a security against
short-term farm loans which had turned bad as far back as 10 years ago. While
the farmers remain unaffected, the drive can help SBI report lower losses on
the farm lending front.Insiders say this is the first time that the bank has
undertaken such an exercise. SBI's farm loans stand at Rs 40,000 crore with 7
to 8% of bad debts. Experts TOI spoke to say that the exercise is nothing
"but fudging of books". An RBI spokesperson said, "We are aware
of the issue and examining it."
A mail sent to Mahindra Rekhi, deputy
general manager of corporate communications, a month ago has remained
unanswered. However, a senor official of general manager rank from the bank's
head office in Mumbai, on the condition of anonymity, said there was nothing
wrong in the practice. "Farming is a continual business. So, each time a
fresh standing crop is there in the fields, the bank has a charge on it. It
also has the right to harvest and recover the money," he said.Some of the
loans are as old as 2003, but the standing crop of the current season has been
placed as a security in the account. TOI has access to documents from SBI's
branches in Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh. "The manipulation took place
all over the country," said a source in SBI.
The drive was undertaken to help the
SBI beef up its profits, said the source. "Had the manipulation of
accounts not been done, the bank would have been forced to provide a higher
amount against the losses on account of bad loans. This is just a patch-up job
as in coming years if the farmers are unable to pay back the loan, it would
have to be shown in the books as losses and SBI would have to write it
off," he said.Without a security, the provisioning can go up to 100%
depending upon the tenure of delinquency. "So, if most of the crop loan
accounts are shown to be backed with a security, SBI has to provide less,
leaving scope for a higher profit in the next quarter," the source added.
Several loan documents accessed by TOI
from Wardha show that securities were 'inserted' between June and July this
year. The loans were for less than Rs 1 lakh for which only the crop is taken
as a security. Example 1: The date of opening a loan account of a farmer (no
farmers are being named in this story) is shown as 2003. In 2008, the loan was
declared out of order as the farmer was unable to pay back. The security in the
form of standing crop was placed in July this year. Example 2: The account
opening date is 2007, the date out of order is 2008, but the security was
included in 2013.
There are other loans which have turned
bad between 2009 and 2013 but securities have been included in the accounts
only in the current fiscal. The hurried measure of work by SBI is revealed in
the pattern where the date of inserting security is the same for several
accounts.For loans more than Rs 1 lakh, land is taken as security. Papers shown
to TOI in Madhya Pradeshrevealed that even land was being updated as security
in the current exercise. Example 1: Opening of loan is 2007, went out of order
in mid 2008, in July 2013 land and stock shown as security. Example 2: Opening
of loan is early 2007, out of order later the same year, land shown as security
in first week of July.
The senior SBI officer too admitted
that the provisioning for bad debts will come down when a fresh security is
shown in the accounts of the borrowers.
A chartered accountant, who has
undertaken rural branch audits of banks, said, "Even though land is taken
as security, it is considered to be a non-recoverable asset. There has been no
instance of any PSU bank taking over an agriculture land to recover its dues.
There are several legal hurdles to it. In same way, harvesting the crop to
recover a loan is also out of question. Under the circumstances, the SBI should
have considered such loans as unsecured."
A farm activist said that the SBI move
is bringing injustice to the farmer. "How can the bank have a claim on a
crop for which a farmer has not borrowed money," asked Kishore Tiwari of
the Vidarbha Jan Andolan Samiti which works for the farmers' cause. "Of
course, he still has to pay for the loans taken in previous years," he
added.
UNQUOTE
Indian when visited vidarbha ti give
healing touch crisis driven families where farm suicides reported in july 2006
,announced that farm credit will available to debt trapped farmers and bank
officials will go to door step each farmers to give fresh crop laon but ground
reality last 8 years after PM package and mega loan waiver PSU Bank credit has
been frozen and maxumum farmers have gone in debttrap private money
leanders and MFI and pathatic hostile saga is repeated in the election
year hence you want FM intervention ,Tiwari urged.
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