Aarthias/Aarthiyas System?

“If the aarthiya system is finished, private financiers will step in, and take away our land entirely,” said a farmer.

What is Aarthias System?

Arhtiyas, who have operations in Punjab and Haryana mainly, provide services to the farmers after they bring their produce to the APMC market yard. The farmer brings his produce to arthias. Arthias labour unloads the produce and cleans it. Following this, auctions happen. Arthias help the farmer with the auctions in the mandi. Auctions happen for both private and government buyers separately. Then the farmers are free and Arthias give them the receipt.

Aarthias provide farmers with the services and pay them within a month. But they believes that private market yards won’t be able to finish the entire process for all the farmers and all the crops in less than three months.

This is why farmers have been outrightly supporting arhtiyas in their opposition to the Bills.

Seeds, pesticides, insecticides and fertilisers are all the needs of farmers, arthiyas have deep networks with their suppliers and because of the credit that is extended to them, farmers are forced to tap into those networks, thereby binding them very closely with the arhtiyas.

Arhatiyas are also moneylenders who fund farmers’ requirements of cash for both cropping operations and personal and social requirements. For many farmers, borrowing from the arhatiya, whom they know personally, is easier and more convenient than approaching a bank with its unfamiliar procedures, impersonal service, and unfamiliar officials.

Counter Argument:

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Aarhtiyas are looked at as ‘evil middlemen’ by most people. He said that historically and culturally, aarhtiyas have had a bad reputation because they lend money to farmers at high interest rates.
Arhtiyas are not middlemen. They take a commission (2.5%) for the work they do and the services they provide to the farmer. There’s hatred towards arhtiyas because they are money lenders also.
In the absence of institutional credit for many farmers, they depend on arhtiyas for money.
Unfortunately, banks also don’t give loans to farmers easily now, if the government or banks will not give credit to farmers then they are helpless to loan money from arhtiyas.
There is need to make the arhtiyas lending process transparent because the clutches of non-institutional loan are also one of the main factors behind farmer suicides.