Demand to scrap Punjab's 2016 farm debt law, new draft proposed
Former Special Chief Secretary KBS Sidhu has called the 2016 farm debt settlement law a failure and proposed bringing a new bill.
KBS Sidhu, former Special Chief Secretary of the Punjab government and convener of the Shiromani Punjab Forum, has demanded the scrapping of the state's 2016 farm debt settlement law. Declaring this law a complete failure, he has released a new draft bill for public discussion.
This matter came to light following the disposal of a petition by Ludhiana environmentalist Lt Col Jasjit Singh Gill (Retd) by the Punjab and Haryana High Court on November 2. The government had informed the court that under the 2016 law, no farmer had submitted an application to the forum nor was any decision made, due to which the need to form a tribunal never arose.
KBS Sidhu said that the 2016 law has failed in freeing [farmers] from debt and had remained merely a tool for commission agents to recover loans. According to him, the government never publicized the forums and in 2018, by making an amendment, the forums were shifted to the divisional level.
In the new draft prepared by the forum, it has been proposed that the 2016 Act be repealed and the debts of farmers and agricultural laborers owed to private moneylenders be deemed cancelled. Banks, cooperative societies, and institutions like NABARD have been kept out of this purview.
According to this draft, private lenders will have to present their claim before the SDM within 90 days. Rules set for verifying the loan will apply, which include conditions on cash transactions and a recommendation to keep the maximum interest rate at 8 percent. The farmer's land, house, cattle, and crop will remain protected from attachment.
A copy of this proposed bill has been sent to the Chief Secretary of Punjab, as well as to all political parties and farmers' organizations of the state for open discussion.
Key developments
- The government informed the High Court that no farmer applied under the 2016 Act.
- Former IAS officer KBS Sidhu termed the law a failure and demanded its repeal.
- Shiromani Punjab Forum released a draft of a new bill for farmers' debt relief.
