As the crisis that has engulfed rubber plantations continues to deepen, the State government’s initiative to guarantee growers a minimum of ₹170 a kg of natural rubber appears to be losing its way due to the delay in verifying the applications.
As per estimates by an association of rubber producers’ societies, over one lakh bills pertaining to the Rubber Production Incentive Scheme (RPIS) are awaiting clearance by the Rubber Board. While farmers have submitted the bills from rubber dealers to the rubber producers’ society (RPS) units in their respective areas, the delay in clearance is attributed to a shortage of field officers in the Rubber Board.
For instance, the board has just three field officers for the Changanassery region, which extends across the vast area from Mallappally in Pathanamthitta to Vaikom in Kottayam. Similarly, the agency has deployed just a single officer for Kanjirappally — the rubber heartland. The RPS units from regions such as Palakkad and Manjeri too have flagged similar concerns.
“With the inspection of fields in connection with the release of planting and replanting subsidies slated to begin in December, the verification of RPIS bills is going to take more time. That the State government opened the portal for uploading the bills only in November has further complicated the process,” says Babu Joseph, secretary, National Consortium of Rubber Producers Societies.
Under the RPIS, the government provides rubber growers with the difference between ₹170, which is the guaranteed price, and the actual market price. To claim the amount, which is credited to the bank accounts of growers through the Rubber Board, the growers are required to submit bills from rubber dealers to the RPS. The field officers of the Rubber Board will then verify and upload these bills on the State government’s website.
Taking a serious note of the delay in verification of bills, the societies on Wednesday held discussions with M. Vasanthagesan, Executive Director of the Rubber Board.
Rubber Board officials, meanwhile, regard that the RPIS has put excessive burden on the Rubber Board in the absence of fresh recruitments. “The overall staff strength of the board, which stood at 1,649 in 2019, has come down to 905 in 2023. Around 550 posts, including that of 137 field officers, have been lying vacant for years,” says an official.
Meanwhile, the State government is yet to release funds as part of the ninth phase of the RPIS that began in July 2023. “The delay in disbursing the funds has rendered the RPIS ineffective in supporting the growers. Although the government allocated ₹500 crore for the RPIS in the 2022-23 State Budget, nearly ₹40 crore is still pending to be released for the period from July 2022 to June 2023,” says Mr. Joseph.
