Tamil Nadu Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay announced a comprehensive waiver of cooperative farm loans, providing full relief for loans up to Rs 75,000 and partial waivers for higher amounts, benefiting over 1.38 lakh farmers with an additional financial commitment of Rs 953.06 crore.
Ladakh Lieutenant Governor Vinai Kumar Saxena has approved new rules for the regularisation of 'nautor lands', granting proprietary rights to eligible landholders. This move aims to resolve a long-pending issue, provide legal certainty, and allow land to be used as a financial asset for thousands of residents in the Union Territory.
The Uttar Pradesh government announced it has paid a record Rs 3,21,963 crore to sugarcane growers since 2017, emphasising on-time payments and direct transfers to farmers' accounts. The government highlighted initiatives like farm loan waivers and the 'Smart Ganna Kisan' system for online sugarcane management.
'Our politics is transparent -- it's about ensuring farmers don't die by suicide, about ensuring agriculture remains viable, about ensuring food security for the nation.' 'If that's politics, then yes, we do politics.'
A series of decisions were taken under the Public Health Department, including an approval to increase honoraria for field-level workers engaged under the Ayushman BharatPradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana and Mahatma Jyotirao Phule Jan Arogya Yojana.
Farmer representatives and agricultural stakeholders urged the government to provide cheaper long-term credit, implement lower taxes, and double the PM-KISAN income support during a comprehensive pre-budget consultation with Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Saturday. The two-hour meeting saw a detailed discussion of proposals, aimed at addressing multiple challenges in the agricultural sector, with key demands focusing on financial relief, market reforms, and strategic investments.
Banks may become more cautious in extending loans, as more and more farmers may take loans, relying on the assurance that a debt relief commission will back them in the event of default.
To offer some relief to farmers in drought-affected states, a ministerial panel has decided to increase the number of guaranteed work days under MGNREGA to 150 days and cut interest rates on crop loans to 7 per cent for one year, according to sources.
'The government's priority is not farmers.'
The textile and apparel sector is India's second-largest employment provider, after agriculture, and it is now caught in a wave of uncertainty following the Donald Trump administration's tariff policy.
In Kerala's society, known for its high material standard of living, plunging into a state of having nothing overnight can be terrible for one's social standing and sense of self-esteem. Rehabilitation entails piecing a community back together after a disturbance and while its aim is noble, the act of reassembling will bring alive disparities and inequalities, explains Shyam G Menon.
State governments have requested the Centre for export incentives, lifting of import duty in the case of cotton for the textile sector and GST exemptions.
Agriculture and allied activity loans are not eligible for the interest on interest waiver announced by the government last week, the finance ministry has clarified.
The Budget assumes significance as it comes on the back of lower-than-expected growth numbers during the second quarter and geopolitical uncertainty.
As scores of farmers and tribals marching towards Mumbai from Nashik district in North Maharashtra entered Thane district, ministers Dada Bhuse and Atul Save met a delegation of farmers late Wednesday night.
Making the announcement, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said this was the "biggest" loan waiver scheme in the country.
The Congress on Friday promised that if the party is voted to power in Gujarat, where assembly elections are due by the yearend, it would waive farm loans of up to Rs 3 lakh and provide free electricity for 10 hours daily to farmers in the state.
'We need to be far more careful given the fact that while this is group lending, it's essentially unsecured.'
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has lauded the Union Budget as a "people's budget" that fulfills the dreams of every Indian and said that it is a "force-multiplier" that will boost consumption, investment and growth. He highlighted a host of measures for different sectors, including welfare initiatives for gig workers, tax relief for the middle class, and support for the manufacturing sector.
The finance minister has emphasised on the quick disbursal of additional loans to MSMEs, to simplify process, formats and documentation.
Sharad Joshi, president of the newly formed Swatantra Bharat Paksha, tells Business Standard that all the Indian farmer wants is a free access to the market.
The initiative would provide double the relief announced by the states of UP and Maharashtra, the Punjab CM said.
In the months immediately following the 2024 tragedy, reporting on the landslide per se had been a straightforward affair. On one side was death and destruction. On the other side, survivors and the business of survival. It was black and white. What direction to take was clear. Rehabilitation in comparison, felt like a complex situation. One that is fraught with shades of grey. As grey as human life, explains Shyam G Menon.
The Karnataka CM with only 37 JD-S MLAs in the assembly is on shaky ground and overly dependent on the Congress for every decision, reports Bibhu Ranjan Mishra.
Even as you fight the ongoing health challenge, here are some tips to strengthen your personal finance in the time of coronavirus.
Past experience shows loan waivers benefited only 30% of India's farmers; here again, the richer cultivator skimmed the cream, leaving very little for his poorer brethren.
Take a look at how Tamil Nadu farmers are making their voices heard.
That apart, farmers will get loans for post-harvest storage of their produce at a subsidised interest rate of 7 per cent for six months.
Commerce and Industry Minister Nirmala Sitharaman told the Rajya Sabha 'the government is absolutely sensitive and seized of the matter'.
For the cooperation ministry, the government made a total budget outlay of Rs 1,150.38 crore for 2023-24, lower than the revised estimate of Rs 1,624.74 crore for 2022-23.
Despite expressing fears of rising defaults, banks committed themselves to promptly sanction fresh loans to farmers covered under the Centre's Rs 71,000-crore (Rs 710 billion) debt wavier and relief scheme.
Congress chief Rahul Gandhi had announced his party would waive farm loans within 10 of coming to power in the state.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday announced income tax relief for the middle class, a Rs 2 lakh crore outlay for job creation schemes over the next five years and a spending splurge for states run by her party's new coalition partners as she unveiled the Modi 3.0 government's first budget after the general elections.
Residents of the union territory had got relief for a while on Friday when there was some let up in the downpour but it started raining heavily again on Friday night.
Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee appeared apprehensive about middlemen preventing farmers from enjoying the full benefits of the reduction in rates for agriculture credit.\n\n
With the reality of coalition politics staring the BJP in its face, this was inevitable, points out Ramesh Menon.
Governments must encourage micro-irrigation, use of natural manure and pesticides in a big way. Farm income can be doubled by reducing cost as much as by increasing MSP, says Sanjeev Nayyar.
A total of 22,27,506 farmers have obtained loan of about Rs 10,736 crore from cooperative banks in the state.
'It is a fiercely fought battle, like our fiery chillies in Guntur.'
