India cancels small farmers' debt

Source: BBC





Last Updated: Friday, 29 February 2008, 08:50 GMT

The Indian government is to cancel the entire debt of the country's small farmers in a giant scheme that will cost 600bn rupees ($15bn; £7.6bn).

The move is a centrepiece of India's latest budget, with the government also increasing education spending by 20% and health funding by 15%.

--snip--

The farm loan cancellations will be offered to all farmers with less than two hectares of land.

--snip--

Read more: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7270361.stm

---

I think a better title for this article would be India Frees slaves. It has been a perpetual problem in India where small farmers are forced to take loans at astronomical interest rates from loan sharks. The result is debt that enslaves whole families for generations if not forever.

This is a big deal.

For people that is. Not for corporations.

I'm very excited about this too!!
Farmers have been committing suicide over these loans in frightening numbers.

I also rejoice the freedom of these slaves.

Where are ours? Obliviously on we sail, trusting to the homicidal free market.

The debt load worries are so pervasive in India, many of the small farmers are committing suicide.

This bailout is not just a goodwill effort on the part of the Indian government, it makes good business sense. India's farm produce has been dropping rapidly due to farmer suicides that India has to increase their imports of produce.

Nevertheless this is great news for the family farmers.

He argued for land reform and rights of the poor and small farmers.

Your posting this article put a bit of sunshine in my day.

for what amounted to $50 USD would break your heart. These guys make maybe $150 - $200 a year.

What they need to do next is get folks out of the brick pits.

And help them stay out of debt.

I've been reading for several years about the repercussions GM crops have had on farming in India. The banks are insured in case the crops fail, the farmers are shit out of luck. Thanks to certain American agri-business intrusions. :hi:

They're doing so by processing your credit card applications and asking what problems you have with Windows Vista.

Go to CBAN and learn what you can do to help promote food sovereignty and democratic decision-making.

2008 is the International Year of the Potato. These people are also trying to protect potato biodiversity from evils like terminator genes.

http://www.fedcoseeds.com/

Nice people. Maine at its best.

in the early 1980s, when high interest rates and low crop prices were causing family farmers in the Midwest to lose their farms. Their land was snapped up cheap by megacorporations to turn into factory farms, resulting in a lot of the evils of industrialized agriculture that we see today.

At that time, the Democrats had a majority in both houses of Congress. They could have passed a debt relief bill, not even debt cancellation but a chance to refinance at lower interest, and the Dems would have had a lock on the rural areas.

But no, this was one of the many times they wimped out to Reagan.