Loan waiver camps deferred

In a surprise move, the BJP government in Rajasthan on Thursday deferred the holding of special camps for distribution of crop loan waiver certificates to farmers at the village cooperative societies in each of the 33 districts in the State. The camps were to be organised on May 26 and 28 to implement the decision for one-time loan waiver up to ₹50,000 each for farmers.

The postponement of camps came amid the State government’s desperate attempts to find funds for the loan waiver scheme, which will cost ₹8,000 crore to the State exchequer. The Cooperative Department was asked at a meeting of a Group of Ministers on Wednesday to obtain a loan of ₹5,000 crore from banks to fund the loan waiver, for which the State government will provide guarantee.

Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje had announced one-time loan waiver up to ₹50,000 each for small and marginal farmers from their outstanding short-term debts in the 2018-19 State budget presented in the Assembly on February 12 this year. The scheme was later extended to cover all farmers.

Cooperative Minister Ajay Singh Kilak said here on Thursday that Ms. Raje would formally inaugurate the loan waiver scheme by distributing certificates at a State-level function in Banswara on May 31. Among the 2.93 million farmers in the State set to benefit from the loan waiver, 1,09,000 farmers, whose loans worth ₹250 crore has been waived, live in Banswara district.

The Congress has flayed the decision to defer holding of camps and described it as the ruling BJP’s ‘insensitivity’ and an attempt to reap political benefit from its decision, which in any case would not benefit thousands of farmers who had obtained loans from the institutions other than the cooperative banks.

‘Scrambling for funds’

“The cash-strapped BJP government is scrambling to arrange funds for the farm loan waiver. The government’s complete failure has been proved by over 90 farmers committing suicide in its four-year rule,” Pradesh Congress vice-president Archana Sharma said here, while alleging that the State government was never serious on the loan waiver issue.