Skip to main content

"Ruined" Gujarat greenhouse farmers seek loan waiver, threaten suicide, say Modi promise destroyed them

By Our Representative
Stressed for the last several years, hundreds of enterprising Gujarat farmers who took up greenhouse projects are on warpath. Accused the state government for failing to listen to their plight, they have said, they are all “deeply in debt” and would not compromise “anything less than loan waiver”.
Operating under the umbrella of Greenhouse Farmers’ Association (GFA), which has a membership of 750 out of about 2,283, who took up greenhouse projects, farmers’ representatives told a media conference, if the state government does not come to their rescue, they are left with “no other option but to commit suicide.”
Directly taking on Modi, who in 2010 gave greenhouse projects a fresh “impetus” with 50% state government subsidy on greenhouse structure, over and above 25% offered by the Centre on greenhouse development, a GFA statement said, “Many youths were attracted by Modi’s loud talk of providing new opportunity to youths in Gujarat. But it has come to a naught today – the young farmers attracted who took up greenhouse projects are all ruined.”
The statement added, “It is unfortunate that even seven years after the state government began supporting the greenhouse project, it was unable to call it agriculture. The result is, we have failed to get any advantages like crop insurance benefit or term loan.”
Seeking a loan waiver of about Rs 100 crore, five young GFA representatives – Darshan Nagarsheth, Tejas Patel, Jatin Patel, Vijay Patel and Sanket Zaveri – squarely blamed the state government for “completely misguiding” them and “pushing” into the “greenhouse ditch”, from where they have failed to come out.
Nagarsheth, who left a lucrative management job in Mumbai to begin his greenhouse startup in 2012, told mediapersons, they were shown “rosy pictures” of house greenhouse farming would flourish, increasing their farm output by 10 times, “without making any pilot projects.”
Not more than 100 greenhouse farms survive out of a total of 2,283 set up across India
“Lured by huge subsidy offered to us, within one year we realized that the state government took a replica from Israel, and copied things from internet to dupe us. While the first crop was a success, next year onwards, we found, diseases struck our farmhouses, with no way to counter them”, he said.
“It was clear: Gujarat’s environment does not suit greenhouses. We are all in deep debt – on an average about Rs 45 lakh each. High bank interests at compound rate of 14% destroyed us further. Thankfully, last year, the Gujarat High Court gave a stay on banks confiscating our greenhouse farm lands – one acre each”, he added.
Pointing out that as of today “not more than 100 greenhouse farms survive” out of a total of 2,283 set up across India”, Nagarsheth said, “We found to our surprise that we could take up only three crops, capsicum, cucumber and rose. There was no support price to our produce. We were forced to sell cucumber at Rs 2 per kg, destroying all our income.”
GFA’s Jatin Patel added, “We have represented our case to everyone, including former chief minister Anandiben Patel, agriculture minister Chiman Sapariya, senior government officials of the agriculture department, others, but received no firm assurance.”
Earlier, RSS’ farmers’ wing, Bharatiya Kisan Sangh (BKS), had admitted that almost 90% crops in greenhouses have failed in North Gujarat, as extreme summer heat damage crops grown under in them, with farmers reeling under deep debt. In 2015, BKS demanded full waiver of loans and interests taken for greenhouse farming.

Comments

TRENDING

Insider plot to kill Deendayal Upadhyay? What RSS pracharak Balraj Madhok said

By Shamsul Islam*  Balraj Madhok's died on May 2, 2016 ending an era of old guards of Hindutva politics. A senior RSS pracharak till his death was paid handsome tributes by the RSS leaders including PM Modi, himself a senior pracharak, for being a "stalwart leader of Jan Sangh. Balraj Madhok ji's ideological commitment was strong and clarity of thought immense. He was selflessly devoted to the nation and society. I had the good fortune of interacting with Balraj Madhok ji on many occasions". The RSS also issued a formal condolence message signed by the Supremo Mohan Bhagwat on behalf of all swayamsevaks, referring to his contribution of commitment to nation and society. He was a leading RSS pracharak on whom his organization relied for initiating prominent Hindutva projects. But today nobody in the RSS-BJP top hierarchy remembers/talks about Madhok as he was an insider chronicler of the immense degeneration which was spreading as an epidemic in the high echelons of th

Central pollution watchdog sees red in Union ministry labelling waste to energy green

By Chythenyen Devika Kulasekaran*  “Destructors”, “incinerators” and “waste-to-energy (WTE) incineration” all mean the same thing – indiscriminate burning of garbage! Having a history of about one and a half centuries, WTE incinerators have seen several reboots over the 19th, 20th and 21st centuries. 

First-of-its-kind? 'Eco-friendly, low cost' sewage treatment system installed in Gujarat

Counterview Desk Following the installation of the Unconventional Decentralized Multi-Stage Reactor (UDMSR) for sewage treatment, a note on what is claimed to be the  first-of-its-kind technology said, the treated sewage from this system “can be directly utilized for agricultural purposes”, even as proving to be a “saviour in the times of water crisis.”

A Hindu alternative to Valentine's Day? 'Shiv-Parvati was first love marriage in Universe'

By Rajiv Shah*   The other day, I was searching on Google a quote on Maha Shivratri which I wanted to send to someone, a confirmed Shiv Bhakt, quite close to me -- with an underlying message to act positively instead of being negative. On top of the search, I chanced upon an article in, imagine!, a Nashik Corporation site which offered me something very unusual. 

Indo-Bangla border: Farmers facing 'illegal obstacles' in harvesting, transporting yields

  Counterview Desk  In a representation to the chairperson, National Human Rights Commission, human rights defender Kirity Roy, who is secretary, Banglar Manabadhikar Suraksha Mancha (MASUM), has said that Border Security Force (BSF) personnel are creating "illegal obstacles" for farmers seeking to harvest their ripened yields and transport them to the market in village Jhaukuthi of Cooch Behar district.

Wasteland, a colonial legacy, being used to 'give away' vast tracts to Ratnagiri refinery

By Fouziya Tehzeeb* William D’Souza, a 55-year old farmer from Kuthethur, Mangalore, was busy mixing cattle feed when we arrived at his doorsteps. Around 25 km from the bustling city of Mangalore, Kuthethur is a lush green village with thick vegetation. On the way to William’s house the idyllic view gets blocked by the flares and smoke arising from the Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Limited (MRPL).

'Flawed' argument: Gandhi had minimal role, naval mutinies alone led to Independence

Counterview Desk Reacting to a Counterview  story , "Rewiring history? Bose, not Gandhi, was real Father of Nation: British PM Attlee 'cited'" (January 26, 2016), an avid reader has forwarded  reaction  in the form of a  link , which carries the article "Did Atlee say Gandhi had minimal role in Independence? #FactCheck", published in the site satyagrahis.in. The satyagraha.in article seeks to debunk the view, reported in the Counterview story, taken by retired army officer GD Bakshi in his book, “Bose: An Indian Samurai”, which claims that Gandhiji had a minimal role to play in India's freedom struggle, and that it was Netaji who played the crucial role. We reproduce the satyagraha.in article here. Text: Nowadays it is said by many MK Gandhi critics that Clement Atlee made a statement in which he said Gandhi has ‘minimal’ role in India's independence and gave credit to naval mutinies and with this statement, they concluded the whole freedom struggle.

CAA disregards India's inclusive plural ethos, 'betrays' ideals of freedom struggle: PUCL

Counterview Desk    "Outraged" at the move of the Central government to implement the Citizenship Amendment Act, 2019 (CAA 2019) weeks before the election, the top rights group, People's Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL), has demanded that the law be repealed. 

Buddhist shrines were 'massively destroyed' by Brahmanical rulers: Historian DN Jha

Nalanda mahavihara By Our Representative Prominent historian DN Jha, an expert in India's ancient and medieval past, in his new book , "Against the Grain: Notes on Identity, Intolerance and History", in a sharp critique of "Hindutva ideologues", who look at the ancient period of Indian history as "a golden age marked by social harmony, devoid of any religious violence", has said, "Demolition and desecration of rival religious establishments, and the appropriation of their idols, was not uncommon in India before the advent of Islam".

Sections of BSF, BGB personnel 'directly or indirectly' involved in cross border smuggling

By Kirity Roy*  The Border Security Force (BSF) of India and the Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) of Bangladesh met for 54th Director General level meeting at Dhaka, Bangladesh, on 5th to 9th March, 2024 to discuss on minimizing killings at border area, illegal intrusion, trafficking of drugs and other narcotics, smuggling of arms and ammunitions and other crimes at bordering areas. Further, the summit had an agenda to discuss on overall development in 150 yards area at both sides of the border and design an activity plan for the same.