Even as the Congress-Nationalist Congress Party coalition government in Maharashtra is drawing flak over the rising cases of farmers' suicides, United Progressive Alliance chairperson Sonia Gandhi on Wednesday promised crop loans at three per cent interest rate to overcome the agrarian crisis.Addressing her first election rally in the Vidarbha region, which has been rattled by a series of suicides by debt-ridden farmers, the Congress president tried to woo the farmers.
It would amount to penalising the people, who make an attempt to repay loans.
Independence Day was celebrated across states and Union territories on Thursday, as several chief ministers announced job schemes while some others vowed their support for Prime Minister Narendra Modi's vision of a Viksit Bharat by 2047.
Gehlot said he was welcoming Modi to Rajasthan through his tweet as he would not be able to do so through his speech.
Public sector banks have been authorised to give more relief to farmers under the debt relief scheme, provided the lenders do not ask the government to bear the losses.
Under the debt relief scheme, called one time settlement, farmers were given debt relief to the extent of 25 per cent of their loans, if they pay 75 per cent of their debt to the banking sector. The scheme is for loans that were overdue on December 31, 2007 and remained unpaid until February 29, 2008.
Saheb Hembram, 34, of Tub village under Burdwan Block I consumed pesticide at his home
The Cabinet has decided to waive interest on loans taken by all farmers across the state.
Farmer organisations also called for boycott of mandis or wholesale markets in Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Mahrashtra, leading to fears of shortage and price rise.
The Odisha government told the assembly over 40,000 workers migrated from the state last year, with the highest number -- 26,151 -- from Balangir.
State governments, which are striving to achieve 4 per cent growth in agriculture during the 11th Plan period (2007-12), have made a strong pitch for repayment of short-term loans by farmers in case of natural calamities at an interest rate of 7 per cent and not at the regular rate of over 10 per cent as fixed by banks.
'Agriculture has been given the wrong kind of attention.' 'More innovations are needed for the sector to be successful,' says Devi Murthy of Kamal Kisan.
Opposition National Democratic Alliance and Third Front disrupted proceedings in both Houses of Parliament for the second consecutive day on Wednesday over the plight of farmers in the country and demanded waiver of loans and a fiscal package for the community.
The saffron party promised a "direct payment of a proportionate bonus" to small and marginal farmers -- those owning up to five acres of land.
"State stands on the position of a loco parentis to the citizens and when there are so many deaths of farmers in the state of Tamil Nadu, it becomes obligatory on the part of the state to express concern and sensitiveness to do the needful and not allow the impecunious and poverty stricken farmers to resign to their fate or leave the downtrodden and the poor to yield to the idea of fatalism.
Having made farmer suicides a campaign issue, Modi and the BJP should have no complaints in now having to live with it, says Aakar Patel.
In the coming months, globally as well as in India, rice might remain a hot potato.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi made a pitch for electing a strong and stable government in an uncertain world beset by geopolitical tensions as the Bharatiya Janata Party on Sunday released its manifesto, prioritising development and welfare while shunning populist measures and contentious issues like the National Register of Citizens (NRC).
The Congress leader is trying his best to end his party's 27-year exile from power in UP.
The farmers, who have been staging a protest for the past 41 days demanding a Rs-40,000 crore drought relief package, farm loan waiver and setting up of the Cauvery Management Board by the Centre
With the general elections due in 2009, lenders to farmers will get cash compensation of Rs 40,000 crore (Rs 400 billion) -- or almost 70 per cent of the waiver package -- in 14 months from July this year. Farmers whose debt is waived will become eligible for fresh credit after June 30, by which time the relief package will have been completed.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Thursday announced a Rs 11.11 lakh crore spending on infrastructure and vowed to continue reforms as she resisted resorting to populist measures in Modi government's last Budget before general elections, instead choosing to stay on the path of cutting deficit while bolstering measures for focus groups.
Congress President Sonia Gandhi on Monday said that Appropriate measures were likely to be taken by the Government to relax the two hectare cap to benefit more farmers under the ambitious Rs 60,000 crore (Rs 600 billion) loan waiver scheme. She was addressing a farmers' rally in Osmanabad in the Marathwada region. She said after the Budget many sections felt that benefits should be granted to farmers having larger land holdings in regions like Vidarbha & Marathwada regions.
A countrywide call for a 'gram bandh' between June 1 and 10 is set to be centred on Mandsaur district of the state.
Bank of Baroda on Monday cut its interest rates for loans upto Rs 50,000 for agriculture, SSI and other priority sectors.
Despite the growing clamour from the central government on India turning digital, and banks requesting direct bank account transfer, the state government decided to hand over cheques to the farmers, which can be immediately converted into cash.
One more potato farmer has committed suicide in West Bengal after being unable to repay his agricultural loans despite a bumper crop, taking the toll in the state to seven so far.
While releasing the guidelines to operationalise the Rs 71,680-crore (Rs 716.8 billion) loan waiver scheme for farmers, he said: "The scheme of this nature has never been attempted. The NDA government could not even contemplate a scheme of this kind during their six years of rule." The United Progressive Alliance government completed on Thursday four years in office.
Seeking to insulate small and marginal farmers from exploitation by moneylenders, United Progressive Alliance chairperson Sonia Gandhi has asked banks to provide credit to farming community at lower rates of interest.
There will be incentives in interest rates offered to farmers so that they can to pay back agriculture loans in time, says Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee
The project, the foundation stone for which was laid by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe in September 2017, is facing resistance in eight districts of Gujarat, through which the train will run.
While rising food inflation is a matter of grave concern for a significant chunk of the population and for policy makers as well, it marks a turnaround in the fortunes of the farmer, reports Sanjeeb Mukherjee.
In December 2016, RBI had granted additional 60 days for repayment of certain loans
Following are comments from economists at leading financial institutions, banks and rating agencies on the interim Budget:
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.
The apex court also observed that the compensation is not the remedy for the suicides.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok Chavan on Tuesday announced a Rs 6,200 crore (Rs 62 billion) farm loan waiver for the 4 million farmers in the state who were not covered by the central governments Rs 71,000 crore (Rs 710 billion) farm loan waiver announced earlier this year.
The last few years have been uncharacteristically good for the Indian sugar sector for a variety of reasons. While on the one hand, the weather supported good crop production; on the other hand, the programme to blend ethanol with petrol took off in a big way. The long-pending problem of burgeoning sugarcane arrears almost came down to nil and exports boomed to record highs.
