CRANTI’s efforts pay off
Posted in Blog
Based on the information received from a RTI filed by Bharatsinh Jhala of Cranti, Gujarat Samachar covered a story on 9 September 2009, on the peculiar relief package announced by the state government for farmers. Reproduced here in English from Gujarati original.
Compensation without surveys?
The Dept of Agriculture has made a quizzical announcement on 29th August 2009. In 2009, it has announced a relief package of Rs. 37.10 crores for farmers whose crops were destroyed or lands washed away by the rains in September 2008. This announcement has raised substantial debate in Sachhivalaya as the programme is perceived as incorrect expenditure.
It is laughable that the Departments of Agriculture and Land Development will in 2009 begin to survey and identify the lands affected by the rains in 2008, which may currently be growing kharif crop. The officers within the departments are confused about how to assess the losses incurred a year back and verify the verity of farmer’s claims/ statements. However they admit on condition of anonymity that they have received orders from the “top” and therefore they were compelled to declare the package.
The Dept. of Agriculture announced that on 5th November 2008, the State Cabinet held a meeting to discuss a relief package for damaged crop in Ahmedabad, Surendranagar and Anand zillas as well as losses incurred due to washing away of lands in Ahmedabad, Surendranagar, Rajkot and Amreli zillas in the kharif season in 2008. Based on the minutes of the meeting, the land revenue department proposed two relief packages on 11 November 2008.
In package 1, farmers whose crops were destroyed by the rains would receive a compensation of Rs. 20.94 crores for their input costs; and in package 2, farmers whose lands were washed away would receive a compensation of Rs. 16.16 crores.
The officials in the land development branch, who are responsible for identifying the beneficiaries of package 2, informed that a committee consisting of the TDO, village officers and sarpanch would estimate the losses incurred by the farmers in each taluka.
It has already been decided to provide aid to approximately 8000 farmers in Ahmedabad and 24,000 farmers in Surendranagar, through package 1. Bharatsinh Jhala of CRANTI and Kisan Adhikar Manch, who had previously moved the high court to demand compensation for the affected farmers of Surendranagar, alleges that when numerous appeals were previously made to request/demand aid for the farmers, nothing was done about it; now announcing a relief package after one year does not seem to make sense. He predicts that the surveys will be undertaken in haste and in an unorganized manner, and where losses of Rs. 10000-15000 have been incurred, only Rs. 200-250 will be given as compensation whereas those who have barely incurred any losses will benefit from the relief package. Further, it is ironic that farmers’ whose lands were washed away with the heavy rains in 2007 have yet to receive the declared compensation of Rs. 56 crores.
