Clarity on farm loan waiver still a long way off in Rajasthan

JAIPUR: It may take more than a couple of weeks before government rolls out the loan waiver scheme, bringing clarity as to who would be eligible for the relief and what would be the terms and conditions.

But sources in the government said that cooperative banks would be writing off loans Rs 9,500 crore out of the Rs 18,000 crore relief announced by chief minister Ashok Gehlot. “We have collected data from all the cooperative banks in the state and the loans that would be waived comes to Rs 9,500 crore, while the rest (Rs 8,500 crore) will be taken care of by the scheduled banks,” an official at the cooperative department said.

He said that 70% of the loans are below Rs 50,000 and another 15% is between Rs 50,000 and Rs 1 lakh. “There are very few loans that are above Rs 2 lakh. So, most of the farmers would be able to avail the benefit,” said the official.

The government notification on Wednesday said that all short-term crop loans of cooperative banks up to Rs 2 lakh would be waived. But farmers are unclear as to if the defaulted loans or the outstanding would be considered.

But the same notification also said that only defaulted loans taken from scheduled banks would be eligible for the waiver. Reacting strongly, the Bharatiya Kisan Sangh (BKS) national president of youth wing Nem Singh Fauzdar expressed disappointment over the new government not waiving loans fully and only trying to waive the defaulted loans.

He said that the government had promised to waive all loans, not the defaulted ones only. “It has now become clear that the government had promised loan waiver only for political gains. During the election rallies, they had promised to waive all loans, including outstanding but after forming the government they have changed the track. They are engaging in various tricks to limit the scope only to defaulted loans,” said Fauzdar at a press briefing in Bharatpur.

Congress president Rahul Gandhi may have proved that he delivered on his poll promises but reactions to the loan waiver were not very approving.

All Rajasthan Agriculture Trade and Industries Association was scathing in its criticism. President of the body Banechand Jain said that since farm loan waiver is intended at winning votes, the funds for the waiver should be financed by funds of political parties.

“On what logic the government should spend tax payers’ money for a political cause. Farm loans are announced to buy votes. So the money should come from their party funds,” added Jain.

Some farmers said they don’t need farm loan waivers. “What we need is job for our children which is sustainable,” said Tarachand Bagadiya, a farmer from Sikar district who had benefitted from the loan waiver scheme announced early this year.