Even as the DMK and Congress demanded the waiver of all farm loans in the State, the AIADMK government maintained in the Assembly on Friday that the situation for waiving off farmers’ loans had not arisen.
The report tabled by Cooperation Minister Sellur K. Raju in the House in response to a special call attention motion moved by DMK member T.R.B. Rajaa (Mannargudi) and Congress member S. Vijayadharani (Vilavancode), explained the various steps taken by thegovernment to protect the farmers’ interests and concluded that the situation to waive off their loans had not arisen.
Mr. Rajaa said that the governments of Karnataka, Maharashtra, Punjab, Telangana and Uttar Pradesh had decided to waive off farm loans andurged the State government to follow suit in the interest of farmers. “The government has already accepted that the State was witnessing a severe drought after over 140 years and the situation is quite adverse to the farming community,” Mr. Rajaa added.
Referring to Mr. Raju’s justification earlier in the House on the State government’s appeal in the Supreme Court against a Madras High Court judgement, Mr. Rajaa said that he State government could still waive farm loans as a policy decision.
Ms. Vijayadharani referred to the hardships faced by the State farmers and said loan waiver would immensely help the agriculture sector.
However, Mr. Raju reiterated the contents of the report and added that over 44 lakh farmers had benefited from loan waiver to the tune of ₹7,600 crore since 2011.