The BJP-led Assam government was slammed by Assam Congress president and Rajya MP Ripun Bora for taking a different turn on its poll promise to call off women debtors micro-finance loan in Assam.
APCC said in a statement, “Earlier the BJP made a U- Turn on the increase of daily wage of the tea garden workers and now they are doing the same with the women of Assam, who had voted for the BJP in the hope that good days would come as the then finance minister Himanta Biswa Sarma himself made the promise through various platforms during the election”.
“In 2019 when the Congress party voiced its demand in the Assembly that a law to regulate the various micro-financing institutions that have violated RBI regulations should be implemented but the then finance minister Himanta Biswa Sarma did not pay heed to this grave problem at that time,” it said.
A resolution was passed in the Assembly in 2020 after opposition pressurized, the APCC said.
“Now the committee that has been formed under Minister Ashok Singhal to look into the modalities for loan waiver has put forward various 6conditions which would not benefit the women debtors at all as expected,” the APCC said.
Micro-finance loan of only those women will be waived off whose family monthly income is below Rs 1 lakh, said the government.
“Thus those families whose monthly family income is (100,000÷12= 8333.34) Rs 8,333 only, they will be able to avail of this loan waive facility,” it said.
“But today even if we calculate Rs 300/ as daily wage of a tea garden worker, then excepting the women tea garden workers, none other women will be able to get the loan waiver facility,” the APCC stated.
The statement said, If the women tea garden workers’ free essential commodities are included in their daily wage, then loan waiver will also be denied to them with this cap of the government, the statement said.
“This means a lot many women, who had got trapped in the micro-finance scam, would not be able to get out of it because of this condition,” it said.
The conditions also implies to those families having four wheelers and are prevalent as well, and now perhaps people who have refrigerators may also not get the loan waiver, the statement further said.
“But many people buy four wheelers to make ends meet and many buy refrigerators for shops by taking loans. Some even use micro-finance to pay off EMIs as stop gap arrangements. Will such families not be included?” the APCC questioned.
Another condition has surfaced where the government will only waive off those micro-financing institutions loan that have followed RBI guidelines.
But how many such micro-financing institutions are there, that follow RBI guidelines, a question arises. What the BJP government was doing if such institutions were developing under the jurisdiction of the government?
The APCC further questioned, “Do they know what rate of interest the financial institutions were charging? By allowing these financial institutions to illegally make profit by flouting RBI guidelines what did the Government gain? Has it been reflected upon?”
APCC president Ripun Bora said: “The total micro-finance outstanding loan is Rs12000 crore and a government that has been floundering on economic front both at the Centre and state made those promises of loan waiver just to get votes from the women of Assam.”
“And the people of Assam once again fell prey to their lies of tall promises by trusting them. Hence the list in the book of lies grows longer day by day,” he added.