Indian economy's strength is its farm sector as it not only shelters majority of the population but also sustains their livelihood. However, our governments have been favoring the rich and greedy corporate houses at the cost of the farmers. The news pasted below is one such example...
Ranjan Panda
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Country’s top corporates owe U.P. farmers Rs. 6,000 crore
Updated: Jun 6, 2015 03:32 AM , By Mohammad Ali |
The figures of arrears the industrialists owe the State’s
farmers are the highest in the country.
Several sugarcane farmers in Uttar Pradesh have committed
suicide as they are yet to get more than Rs. 6,000 crore owed to them by some
of the country’s top corporates for this crop season alone.
The corporate houses that owe the State’s farmers money
include Bajaj, Birla, Modi group and the liquor baron Ponty Chaddha-led Wave
group. These private defaulters, which own 40 of the 103 sugarcane mills, have
left the farmers in a state of crisis.
Highest in country
According to an Uttar Pradesh Cane Development department
document accessed by The Hindu, the figures of arrears the industrialists owe
the State’s farmers are the highest in the country.
The top defaulter is Bajaj group which is yet to pay Rs.
1598 crore to the farmers. The Mawana group, which owns three mills in the
State, has defaulted on the payment of Rs. 524 crore. The Birla group, which
owns five mills, owes Rs. 376.5 crore, the Modi group, with two sugar mills
owes Rs. 406 crore.
The Yadu group, owned by U.P. strongman D.P. Yadav has
defaulted on payment of Rs. 50 crore. The Dalmiya group which owns three mills
is yet to pay Rs. 94.3 crore. There are 20 others in the list with smaller
outstanding amounts.
Senior officials of the Cane Development department told The
Hindu that the officials will soon initiate action against the top defaulters.
A senior office-bearer of the Sugar Mill Owners Association
said, on condition of anonymity, that the “government needs to seriously look
at the crisis in the sugar industry and reward those who pay the farmers even
in this crisis.”
“There is no dispute that the private sugar mill owners owe
more than Rs 6,000 crore as arrears but frankly, the industry is going through
a big crisis. Due to the decreasing sugar prices we are unable to recover the
money from the market. So, we are just not in a position to pay Rs. 240 per
quintal,” he said.
Sudhir Panwar, a farmer expert argued that farmers have not
got even a fourth of the price of the sugarcane they sold to these private
players.
‘Control sugar prices’
“The Central government needs to control the sugar prices
which are continuously falling. When Modi addressed the rally in Meerut ahead
of the parliamentary election last year, he raised the issue but he is yet to
do any thing. The Centre abolished its control on the sugar market because of
which the prices are continuously going down,” Mr. Sudhir Panwar added.
http://m.thehindu.com/news/national/other-states/countrys-top-corporates-owe-up-farmers-rs-6000-crore/article7287537.ece/
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