THE All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS), in a statement issued on May 27, has noted with grave concern that the central board of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has recently decided to transfer a record Rs 2.69 lakh crore surplus to the union government for the financial year 2024-25. The RBI took this decision after revising their Economic Capital Framework (ECF) which gave the apex regulator the flexibility for making smooth surplus transfers to the union government. The RBI’s dividend to the union government for 2024-25 has increased by 27 per cent compared to the Rs 2.11 lakh crore surplus transferred in 2023-24. 

The big business-controlled Indian State was systematically eroding the autonomy of the RBI in the post-reform era to suit the larger anti-working people macroeconomic strategy of the State. The ascendancy of Modi to Delhi was accompanied by the increasing clout of global finance in macroeconomic and monetary policy making and RBI was consistently forced to serve the interests of the ruling classes. Given the trajectory of the RSS-BJP led regime, oligarchic sections of big business will benefit from the current surplus transfer.

This is crystal clear in the way in which the RBI and union government refused the demand raised by the All India Nabard Employees Association (AINBEA) that a significant chunk of the RBI surplus should be transferred to the National Bank for Agriculture & Rural Development (NABARD) to revive agriculture. 

The AINBEA argued that by transferring surplus to the fund-starved NABARD by invoking provisions in the NABARD Act and RBI Act, NABARD could have decreased interest rates to borrowers like peasants and agricultural workers via cooperatives and Regional Rural Banks (RRBs). This would have provided considerable assistance to the peasantry who are devastated by the agrarian crisis. As per the government data 31 farmers are forced to commit suicide every day in India. The fact that Modi’s rule from 2014 witnessed the waiving of more than Rs 16 lakh crore of corporate debts indicates the depth of the Modi-Corporate love story. However, the Modi government did not waive a single rupee of the debt of the farmers and agricultural workers during this period. 

The AIKS notes that the cash-strapped MGNREGS  – with a mere Rs 86,000 crore allocation in the Union Budget 2025-26 – is providing a lifeline to crores of rural poor by providing an  average of Rs 300 per day wage as well as 45 working days though the target is 100 working days. If a considerable portion of RBI surplus is transferred to MGNREGS, it can provide Rs 600 per day wage and 200 working days to the rural poor as demanded by the organisations of agricultural workers, small and medium farmers and rural workers. This will augment the purchasing power of the working people and help economic development in all sectors. AIKS is of the opinion that providing sufficient funds to MGNREGS and linking it with agriculture is crucial to address the agrarian crisis. 

The AIKS appeals to the peasantry and all working people to intensify their struggle against imperialism and the pro-big business policies of the union government and undertake the widest possible campaign among the working people as part of the worker-peasant joint action of the July 9 all India General Strike.