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.
The farm loan waiver scheme may not trigger a tendency among farmers to default intentionally, Amarendra Sahoo, chief general manager, rural planning and credit department, Reserve Bank of India, said on Thursday.
With the Opposition targeting the government on alleged irregularities in the farm loan waiver scheme, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Wednesday promised "stringent possible action" against defaulters, if any.
"We are not in a position to take new responsibilities till the present commitments (Rs 60,000 crore farm loan waiver package) are implemented," Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar said replying to supplementaries in the Lok Sabha. "Let us first implement the farm loan waiver scheme presented in the Budget and see the results," Pawar said noting that more than 81 per cent farmers fall in the small and medium categories which were covered under the package.
Kumaraswamy, who also holds the finance portfolio, said he has limited the loan amount to Rs 2 lakh, as it was 'not right' to waiver higher value crop loan.
The Bharatiya Janata Party on Friday termed as "hoax" the government's Rs 60,000 crore (Rs 600 billion) farm loan waiver package, saying the move was just to make political capital as in effect it will put the major burden on future governments.
This largesse will now be available also to those engaged in agriculture's allied activities like livestock rearing, as also to those who had availed themselves of investment credit for purposes like deepening wells and purchasing tractors.
Farm loan waivers should not be regarded as expenditure but as incentive and investment, argues B S Raghavan, the distinguished civil servant.
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.
The Congress on Tuesday downplayed the claim that President Pratibha Patil was behind the government's ambitious farm loan waiver scheme, saying inputs for it had come from diverse quarters. Party spokesman Abhishek Manu Singhvi was commenting on a remark by Christy Fernandes, the President's Secretary, that Patil had advised the government to initiate appropriate mechanism by which the plight of the farmers could be addressed.
Beyond the macro data, there has been little enquiry into the profile of the indebted farmer households, says Shailesh Dobhal.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis announced a significant waiver of approximately Rs 48,000 crore in pending electricity dues for farmers, aiming to facilitate new agricultural power connections and support the state's agricultural sector.
Congress MP Rahul Gandhi on Thursday made a strong speech in Parliament demanding the widening of the scope of relief granted to farmers through the loan waiver scheme announced by Finance Minister P Chidambaram in the Budget 2008-09.two crucial changes to widen the arc of relief as the party prepares for crucial electoral battles ahead.
Kumaraswamy met representatives of farmers groups and progressive peasants to discuss the problems faced by them.
Seeking to allay apprehensions of members on farm loan waiver, Finance Minister P Chidambaram said on Friday 'every' suggestion made on the ambitious scheme was under examination.
Ahead of the last Assembly polls, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi had promised to implement a farm loan waiver scheme in the state if the party came to power.
Among the states due for election next year are AP, Haryana and Odisha, which have a fair share of agri credit. If these states individually announced debt relief, the combined waiver would be at least around Rs 600 bn to Rs 700 bn. Clearly, this will be a frightening challenge for Indian banks.
Referred to as 'Badlav Patr (document of change)', Congress leader Randeep Surjewala and All India Congress Committee's Bihar in-charge Shakti Sinh Gohil presented the manifesto that promises farm loan waiver and 50 percent subsidy in electricity bills to farmers up to 100 units of consumption. The manifesto also promised that it will reject the Centre's farm laws if voted to power.
Amid the buzz over a split in the ranks of Lok Sabha MPs of Shiv Sena-Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray through "Operation Tiger", Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Sunday said the "operation" has been successful. His deputy and Shiv Sena president Eknath Shinde said he never leaves an operation incomplete.
In his address at a conference of state secretaries, Rajan stressed the need to strengthen state-level coordination committees by ensuring participation, conducting meetings more frequently and sharing quality information among all stakeholders, including state government agencies.
Anti-corruption activist Anna Hazare on Sunday claimed to have sufficient proofs of alleged irregularities committed in the farmers' loan waiver scheme of the Centre which was brought out by a Comptroller and Auditor General report recently.
Making the announcement, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said this was the "biggest" loan waiver scheme in the country.
BJP said if voted to power, it would bring out a 'white paper' on the financial health of the state under the Congress rule.
MPs, state legislators and government employees will not receive the benefit of loan waiver.
The UPA government had last year announced a nearly Rs 71,000 crore (Rs 710 billion) farm loan waiver scheme to offer relief to farmers, especially the small and medium ones who were unable to access fresh loans due to non-payment of dues. Noting that the full impact of failure of monsoon was yet to be assessed, the minister said the country would, however, be able to achieve six per cent plus economic growth during the current fiscal.
He said farmers need to get good remunerative price for their produce.
Maharashtra minister Chandrashekhar Bawankule denies allegations of owning hundreds of acres of land and announces a defamation suit. He also addresses concerns about housing irregularities and farm loan waivers.
13 eminent economists, including former RBI governor Raghuram Rajan and current International Monetary Fund Chief Economist Gita Gopinath, in a report have asked the political establishment not to resort to populist tricks.
The Congress, desperate to make a comeback in Gujarat, which has been ruled by the Bharatiya Janata Party for over 20 years, has tried to reach out to various sections of society in its blueprint unveiled.
Finance Minister P Chidambaram on Tuesday told Parliament that the farm debt waiver and relief scheme has benefited 36.4 million farmers and taken care of their Rs 66,477 crore (Rs 664.77 billion) debt burden.
A case has been registered against Maharashtra BJP minister Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil and 53 others, including directors of a sugar mill, for allegedly obtaining loans of nearly Rs 9 crore in the names of farmers using forged documents. The complaint was filed by a sugarcane cultivator and member of the cooperative sugar mill, alleging that the loan amounts were never credited to the farmers' accounts and were instead siphoned off by sugar mill officials and bank staff. The case was registered based on a court directive following a complaint alleging irregularities that occurred in 2004.
The government has extended the repayment date six months under the farm loan waiver scheme, a move that is expected to help banks set aside less money for non-performing loans, but has raised expectations of another loan waiver ahead of general elections.
Government banks have demanded that the amount eligible under the farm waiver scheme should continue to be considered lending to the farm sector till the government clears the dues to help banks meet the mandatory priority sector lending target.
Decision on additional Rs 2 lakh debt at 7% rate shortly.
Gandhi said farmers asked him during his Bharat Jodo and Bharat Jodo Nyay yatras about why they were not getting the benefit of loan waivers like billionaire industrialists or MSP (minimum support price) for farm produce.
The experience of direct cash transfer under PM-Kisan will be useful in designing a larger scheme of DBT for farmers combining all subsidies and support for the agriculture sector in the future, say Ramesh Chand & SK Srivastava.
Public sector bank chiefs will have a lot to discuss when they meet Finance Minister P Chidambaram on May 1 to get a broad direction from the government, the majority shareholder in 28 PSBs, for the strategy they should adopt in 2008-09. High on the agenda will be a discussion on implementation of the Rs 60,314-crore.
The government on Friday hiked the debt waiver and relief for small and marginal farmers from Rs 60,000 crore (Rs 600 billion) to Rs 71,680 crore (Rs 718.80 billion).
If TVK MLAs and ministers are perceived as clean, or demonstrably cleaner than their predecessors, the credibility dividend will be enormous. The voter will feel rewarded, points out Ramesh Menon.
The farmers of the state have been demanding a complete waiver of loans and electricity bills.
