Laws are like cobwebs, which may catch small flies, but let wasps and hornets break through — Jonathan Swift
The Vijay Mallya controversy is an example of how the system can be subverted by the high and mighty, and used to intimidate the weak and distressed. Even as Mallya was given a long rope by bankers, the same lenders hounded famished farmers in India’s hinterland till they paid up. Many chose to end their life, prompting a government task force to blame public sector banks for the farmers’ plight.
At a time when Mallya was defaulting on loans running into thousands of crores and living life king-size, at least four farmers were ending their lives daily for defaulting on paltry sums.
While there is hardly any sign of the King of Good Times becoming a pauper, the lives of thousands have been ruined beyond repair. No less than 1,615 farmers committed suicide in 2015 due to crop failure and inability to repay their bank loans.
The Union Agriculture Ministry has submitted a detailed report to Parliament with a state-wise break-up of farmers’ suicides.
The report says 58 farmers committed suicide in Andhra Pradesh last year while 342 ended their lives in the newly formed Telangana state.
Karnataka, where Mallya’s business empire is mainly based, witnessed the suicide of an average of eight farmers per month in 2015.
Kishore Tiwari, who is heading a task force constituted by the government to redress the hardship of farmers, blamed public sector banks.
“Non-sensitivity of banks is responsible for farmers’ suicide across the country. For meagre Rs 20,000-30,000, they have been harassing entire families, forcing them to take extreme steps. The same nationalised banks that gave thousands of crores to Vijay Mallya to maintain his lavish lifestyle are hounding our farmers for a few thousand rupees? Just see the defaulters’ list and you will be surprised to see big names living a luxurious life on taxpayers’ money,” said Tiwari.
According to the Agriculture Ministry, 725 farmers committed suicide in Maharashtra, where Tiwari has been working for distressed farmers for over a decade. The distress is a continuing saga: in Maharashtra, 57 people have committed suicide with the new year no more than three months old.
These are faceless farrmers, whose lives are not nearly as well charted as the liquor baron's. But they are flesh and blood. Here are four of them.
TAMIL NADU
G Balan | 40 | Thanjavur
G Balan, a farmer from Chozhagankudikadu in Thanjavur, is the very archetype of a toiling farmer. But neither nature nor banker have been kind to him.
“This season I got only 10 bags of rice (60 kg each) per acre, compared to the normal yield of 36 bags per acre,” says Balan. Last year was even worse: he got 21 bags.
During the last cycle, his crop withered due to shortage of water. This time around, it was excessive rains that did him in.
It is not just paddy that failed him and he couldn't pay the last two instalments of his tractor loan. He had planted sugarcane as well last year, but was affected by a strike by workers of the Arignar Anna Sugar Mills due to which the cutting order was issued very late.
“The order, which should have been given in January, was issued in June. This resulted in a loss of Rs 40,000 per acre.”
In all, he owed Rs 1.20 lakh in dues for the same to the private bank. Last week, the bankers' agents came to him and impounded his tractor.
KARNATAKA
Gurunath Chapagavi | 49 | Bengaluru
Chapagavi owned four acres of land in Badal Ankalagi, in front of Suvarna Vidhana Soudha, the magnificent building where the Karnataka legislature meets.
He grew sugarcane, which he supplied to a leading factory in the district. He was to get about Rs 2 lakh but not a single rupee came his way. Meanwhile, pressure was mounting on him to repay the loan and interest which had gone up to Rs 3.5 lakh. Recovery agents began visiting his house everyday, harassing him and his family.
“A well-respected man in the village, Chapagavi was humiliated and depressed after he was harassed by these men who frequently visited his house and fields. That pushed him to end his life,” says Bayavva, his sister.
The sugar factory finally gave Rs 1 lakh, half of what it owed Chapagavi. But the payment came one day too late. He had consumed poison just a day earlier, on June 8, 2015.
“He felt insulted when he was brusquely asked to repay his loans in the presence of others in the village,” says his wife Chinnavva.
TELANGANA
Achutha Reddy | 52 | Mahbubnagar
Hailing from a drought-prone district like Mahbubnagar, Achutha Reddy has faced many a turbulent time over the years. Distress was not new to him. But recently, after bank officials descended on his land and put up boards stating that the land has been confiscated in lieu of the loan amount due to them, he was deeply depressed.
“I thought of ending my life, but could not muster courage,” says Reddy.
Reddy had availed of a loan of Rs 3 lakh from a public sector bank in 2009 to take up mango and chikoo cultivation on his three-acre land in Gudimalkapur village in Hanwada mandal. But just as he was about to reap the first harvest in 2012, a fire that damaged his orchard.
Authorities inspected the land and said he was eligible for compensation. However, it never came. What did was the bank, which started pressuring him to repay the loan along with interest — about Rs 10 lakh by then. After it became clear that the farmer will not be able to repay the money, the bank has now attached his land.
ODISHA
Niranjan Prasad Das | 52 | Badanuapur
Das knows the business, had dreams of making it big and thought a bank loan would help him achieve his goal. Seven years down the line, he's a wreck.
The dream is shattered, his property is gone, he lost his father and elder daughter, and he is now fighting a battery of diseases. His crime perhaps is that he is not Vijay Mallya.
A native of Badanuapur, Das ran a small wheat and turmeric grinding mill, which encouraged him to begin a spice factory. “The bank assured that it would give me a loan of Rs 80 lakh against the land as mortgage. But after providing Rs 24.5 lakh in four instalments, they refused the rest,” he recounts.
This upset the whole plan, which eventually led to the collapse of his enterprise. So traumatised was this father of four that he remained bed ridden for nearly two years. His elder son, Balaram (26), then pursuing MBA, had to drop out.
“The bank filed a case before the Debt Recovery Tribunal, but I could pay only one instalment of Rs 73,000. I sought time, but the manager did not agree,” says Das, unable to control his emotions.
KERALA
George Thomas | 54 | Palakkad
When he availed of a loan of Rs 4 lakh from a scheduled bank way back in 2007, there was no foreseeable threat that George Thomas could perceive. He had 2.5 acres of land where he planted rubber, the price of which was going up. He did not hesitate much before pledging his house and the land it is built on as collateral.
But years down the line, after having repaid around Rs 5 lakh, Thomas is facing the worst crisis now — rubber prices have crashed, he still has Rs 8 lakh outstanding and the bank is repeatedly asking him to vacate the house so as to seize and auction it.
“The irony is that when the prices were hovering above Rs 200 a kg, the same banks were approaching farmers requesting them to avail of loans as repayments were assured. Now, with rubber prices crashing to around Rs 80-100 per kg, it is but natural that I’m unable to clear the debt,” he points out.
“This can by no means be construed as wilful default — which is what many rich and powerful people do and get away with impunity,” he adds, seeking waiver for those farmers who repaid the principal amount.