81% free power beneficiaries large, medium farmers: Study

Ruchika M Khanna

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, December 14

An astounding 81.52 per cent of the free farm electricity beneficiaries in Punjab are medium and large farmers, and only 18.48 per cent are small and marginal farmers (having landholding of less than 5 acres), a study has revealed.

Conducted by eminent economist RS Ghumman, professor at the Centre for Research in Rural and Industrial Development (CRRID), it has brought to light how the “untargeted free power” has failed to achieve its objective of alleviating the lot of distressed small and marginal farmers.

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The study reveals that of the 13.51 lakh (electricity operated) tubewells, only 89,212 (6.6 per cent) are with marginal farmers (having less than 2.5 acres) and 1,60,581 (11.88 per cent) are with small farmers. About 95 per cent of suicide victims amongst debt-ridden farmers are from this category. The operational landholdings of these farmers are over 34.19 per cent.

“This shows that mainly large farmers are enjoying the benefit of free power subsidy. This year, Rs 7,700 crore is expected to go towards it — to over 80 per cent beneficiaries who are in no need for this dole. Thus, the CM’s initiative asking the big farmers to give up free power has a lot of substance,” Ghumman told The Tribune.

The study goes on to establish that if free power is withdrawn from the medium and large farmers (having over 10 acres), who have 7.59 lakh tubewell connections, the state exchequer would save Rs 4,000 crore during 2017-18.

“Initially, free power, when it was introduced in January 1997, was meant only for farmers having over 7 acres’ land. But the very next month this facility was extended to all agricultural power consumers. History has proved that political parties (both Congress and Akali Dal) have not been saved from being ousted from power even after they extended this subsidy,” says the economist.

The study drives home the point that the money saved on withdrawing free power to medium and large farmers could not just be used to fund the loan waiver, but also help create enough corpus to improve rural education, health, sanitation and other infrastructure in villages, which as of now is in a shambles.