In 2016, Shiva Uda, a resident of Jhamar Kotra village in Rajasthan's Udaipur district, handed over his three-bigha land to the government-controlled Rajasthan State Mines and Minerals Limited (RSMML) for mining operations. The government offered him a compensation of Rs 7.2 lakh in two instalments.
In December, 2016, Shiva approached the bank with the requisite documents to receive the first instalment of Rs 6.2 lakh which was credited to his account. Officials at the bank helped him to fill in the application form and complete all other necessary formalities. The second instalment of Rs 1 lakh was credited to his account in May, 2017.
After identifying a plot to be purchased with the compensation, he went to the bank, but was shocked to learn that only Rs 5 lakh was deposited in his account. An amount of Rs 2 lakh was deducted towards premiums of a life insurance policy without his assent or knowledge.
Shiva is illiterate, but the policy form states that he has studied up to tenth standard. Without mentioning the family's Below the Poverty Line (BPL) status, the bank officials inflated their annual income to fraudulently sell the insurance scheme.
Shiva, a wheat farmer, also works on a temporary basis at the mining field for a monthly wage of Rs 7,000. The bank's ploy to dupe him into buying an insurance policy with huge recurring annual premium was foiled by the intervention of Nitin Balchandani, a whistle-blower who has been closely monitoring complaints of wrongful selling of life insurance products by banking institutions.
Through Nitin, Shiva filed a complaint with the higher authorities of the bank in question, Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI), and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). The complaint raised by Shiva was properly addressed and the amount put into the insurance policy was refunded to him by the bank.
Taking advantage of gullible customers
Shiva, however, is not alone. His story is matched by several other farmers in the village. Shiva's neighbour Shankarlal Kamal, who had put Rs 5 lakh into a fixed deposit, is another victim. It took him a year to realise that he had been sold an insurance plan which required him to pay a premium of Rs 1,00,000 every year. Though he filed complaint, the bank did not respond. Shankarlal too went to Nitin and sought his assistance to get his money back. He too was refunded the amount with an interest of 8.25 per cent.
According to Devilal, at least 60 persons have been cheated by bankers in a similar manner in Jhamar Kotra alone, a farming village where around 600 families live. Nathu, Doota Patel, and Bhola Bhai, residents of neighbouring villages, too have fallen into the well-laid insurance trap. Gopal Singh Rawat, who trusted the bank with his retirement money, was another person who was duped into buying an insurance policy with premiums that he could not afford.
A one-man crusade
Nitin, an ex-employee of a leading private bank, has been waging a lone battle against the fraudulent practices in the banking sector ever since his resigned his job in 2012. In most of the cases that he has highlighted, the victims were poor farmers and illiterate villagers. He quit the job and joined hands with the victims after the bank management refused to take any action on his complaints regarding such unethical practices. "At least one new case would come up every day. I would duly bring it to the notice of the RBI and the IRDAI, requesting them to keep a check on such practices and to install proper mechanisms," Nitin said.
Some years ago, bank officials reached out to Nitin, and asked him to flag cases to them instead of the regulators. However, he did not agree to this after the bank rejected his demand for a written assurance.
It was then the issue took an ugly turn. The bank filed a case against Nitin, accusing him of stealing information. The police booked him and sent to judicial custody for a month. However, the Rajasthan High Court quashed all proceedings against Nitin pertaining to the case. He returned strongly and continued his battle against the unethical practices by banks. Nitin, who has so far found around 50 such cases in and around Udaipur, believes that the problem is rampant across the country.
If you are a victim of similar insurance frauds, do contact this reporter with details at thomasdominic@mm.co.in
A village up for sale
The miseries of financially distressed farmers seem far from over in Dorli, a sleepy village in the Vidarbha region of Maharashtra, which made headlines five years ago when it put itself up for sale. Though the protest highlighted the plight of farmers and the extent of agrarian distress, nothing has changed on the ground for the farmers as successive governments remained insensitive to the problems they are grappling with.
The residents of Dorli, a predominantly Dalit village, conducted several agitations, including a Jail Bharo Andolan (fill-the-jail agitation), but the authorities were unmoved. In an act of desperation, they put up boards declaring that they are ready to sell their village. The place grabbed the world's attention, but nobody came forward to purchase the drought-prone village with failing water sources and withered crops. The only positive thing that came out of their unique protest was that the mud road leading to Dorli was tarred after political leaders cutting across party lines made a beeline to visit the locality.
Jarunde's memoirs
Have a look at the diary of Dharampal Jarunde, a veteran farmer in Dorli, who recorded all the events that followed their protests for future generations:
June 30, 2006: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh visited Dorli.
July 18, 2008: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi came to the village and promised us that all our demands would be considered favourably.
January 1, 2009: Nitin Gadkari (the current Union Minister for Road Transport and Water Resources) visited Dorli.
Gopinath Munde (the late Union Rural Development Minister) launched his 'Sanghrsh Yatr' rally from Dorli.
There are three dams that are located not far from Dorli. Prime Minister Manmohan Sigh had promised us to construct canals and bring water to the village from the reservoirs. But it remained an empty promise.
Confessions of the government
Recently, the Ministry of Agriculture has admitted that small and marginal farmers as well as farm labourers were badly hit by demonetisation. In its report submitted to the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance, the ministry confessed that demonetisation came at a time when farmers were engaged in either selling their Kharif crops or sowing the Rabi crops.
Due to the resultant cash crunch, peasants were unable to buy seeds and fertilisers. Agriculture labourers too bore the brunt of the exercise after landlords decided not to sow in the season. There were no takers for seeds distributed through government outlets. Even the National Seeds Corporation failed to sell nearly 1.38 lakh quintals of wheat seeds, the report added.
(To be continued…)
References: Major Agricultural Problems of India and their Possible Solutions by Krishi Jagran; Parliament Question & Answers.
