New Delhi. There have been many scams in our country. Sometimes someone duped the government and sometimes a Ponzi scheme operator ran away after swindling crores of rupees of thousands of people. 13 years ago, a unique scam took place in the country. This was the Guar Scam. In the year 2011-2012, suddenly some people in the country together made the price of the Guar crop (Guar Seed) skyrocket in two seasons. Guar which was sold for Rs. 2500-3000, was sold for Rs. 33,000 per quintal in the year 2012. Seeing the rate of Guar increasing every day, many people started buying Guar in large numbers. Most of the people who stocked Guar were traders from Haryana and Rajasthan. But, this fever of boom soon subsided. Within two years, its price fell to Rs. 4500 per quintal. Even today the price of guar is Rs 5000-5400 per quintal.

While some farmers became rich due to this huge rise in the price of Guar, thousands of traders in Haryana and Rajasthan suffered huge losses. There was a time when the price of one quintal Guar and 10 grams of gold became the same. Due to the daily rise in prices, there was a huge stock of Guar. Traders had stocked Guar in large quantities in cities like Jodhpur, Bikaner, Jaipur, Ganganagar, and Hanumangarh in Rajasthan and Hisar, Adampur Mandi, Siwani and Bhiwani in Haryana. Not only this, but due to this 'Guar Scam', a political party, Jamidara Party also emerged in Rajasthan. This party also won two seats in the Rajasthan Assembly elections.

What is Guar?
Guar is a crop. 90 percent of the world's Guar production takes place in India. Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh are the major Guar-producing states of the country. Guar is used to make animal feed for animals and gum is also made from it. Guar gum is in powder form and is used to make many things. India exports about 70 percent of the total Guar gum produced here.

A single cheat cost crores of rupees
. Before 2011, there was never any major fluctuation in the price of guar. The price suddenly increased in the harvesting season of 2011. The rate of guar increased almost four times in that season. There was a buzz in the market that in America, the use of gum made from guar for extracting crude oil has started in large quantities. Because of this, America is buying a lot of guar gum. In the future, the price of guar can go up to one lakh quintal. When the price of guar went up to Rs. 14000, in the next sowing season i.e. in the year 2012, tremendous enthusiasm was seen among the farmers for guar.

Guar seed is given free..
A firm exporting Guar gum in Ganganagar, Rajasthan started a campaign to increase the sowing of Guar. This firm gave Guar seed to the farmers for free. Along with this, it also assured that it will buy Guar from the farmers' field at a high price. In some areas of Haryana, Rajasthan, and Punjab, many people sowed Guar instead of cotton crops.

The trend of increasing prices of guar, which started in 2011, continued in 2012. Despite higher sowing than last year, the price of guar reached 20,000 rupees per quintal only ten days after the start of the harvesting season. Seeing the prices increase
every day, farmers also started bringing fewer crops to the market. Due to low supply and heavy demand, the price of guar reached 33,000 rupees per quintal within no time.

The rise stopped after a few days
. The price stopped at the end of the harvesting season of 2012. After the rate remained stable for a few days, it started falling. After a month, it came down to 20-22000 rupees per quintal. However, some people in the market were calling this fall a recession based on rumors and were appealing to people not to sell guar. The fall did not stop and the price kept falling back to 5000 rupees per quintal.

Traders lost crores of rupees.
Due to the severe fall in the price of guar, many people lost crores of rupees. Most of those who suffered the most were from the business class, who are considered 'smart and educated' in Haryana-Rajasthan. Some traders who incurred losses by stocking guar could not recover from it and became bankrupt.

Guar led to the formation of a political party
. There was a guar gum exporting firm in Ganganagar, Rajasthan, Vikas WSP. Its founder BD Agarwal believed that guar would bring fortune to farmers. When there was a recession in guar, BD Agarwal formed a party called Jamidara to protect the so-called interests of guar farmers. This party contested the Rajasthan Assembly elections and won two seats. Agarwal's daughter Kamini became MLA on one seat. Later, many allegations were also made against BD Agarwal and his company.

Why was there such a boom?
Guar is traded in the spot market as well as in the futures market. On these huge ups and downs in Guar, the opinion of the agri commodity experts was that all this was the handiwork of the futures traders. They said that to sell their stock lying in the spot market at a higher price, they manipulated the entire market and created a false hype of a boom. The common trader got caught in its clutches and he rode the wave of the market without thinking.