Order soon to extend debt limit for farm loan waivers to Rs 2L: Min

Thiruvananthapuram: The state government will soon issue an order extending the farm loan waiver debt limit to Rs 2 lakh. The existing district level farmer debt relief commissions will have extended tenures to deal with fresh farm loan waiver applications once the new norms will be in place.
Agriculture minister V S Sunil Kumar said the state level bankers’ committee (SLBC) has considered the government proposal to include loans availed from scheduled and public sector banks also under the purview of debt relief commissions. “We are processing the files. Once the procedures are complete, orders in this regard will be issued,” Sunil Kumar told the assembly on Monday. Currently debt relief commissions consider only loans availed from cooperative banks.
Farm loans of up to Rs 1 lakh availed up to August 31, 2018 by farmers in Wayanad and Idukki are now under the consideration of the debt relief commissions in those districts. In other districts, the commission is considering loans availed up to March 31, 2014 for debt relief.
The state cabinet in March had decided to extend the limit of farm loan waiver to loans up to Rs 2 lakh but the files couldn’t be processed as election notification was issued then. Later, the proposal was cleared by SLBC too, paving way for a comprehensive order which will be helpful for hundreds of farmers.
The minister also announced that under the Rebuild Kerala initiative, a slew of agriculture development packages is being planned by the government. “We will show you how to implement agriculture packages for the betterment of farmers,” Kumar said, recalling the disastrous implementation of Kuttanad package by the previous UDF government.
Minister Sunil Kumar made the announcements in reply to a notice seeking leave for an adjournment motion on the issue of farmer suicides in the state, moved by Sulthan Bathery MLA I C Balakrishnan.
In the last 18 months, 18 farmers have committed suicides in the state, alleged opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala. He said the government’s laxity in providing support to farmers was the major reason behind the suicides. “Recently, one farmer of Idukki had announced that he would be selling his kidneys to clear debts. What prompted him to say so?” Chennithala asked.
Chennithala also alleged that 2,961 individuals had to face attachment proceedings from the cooperative banks in the state as they failed to pay loans availed from those banks. “The government which is opposing Securitisation and Reconstruction of Financial Assets and Enforcement of Securities Interest (Sarfaesi) Act is using the same to recover loans issued by cooperative banks,” he said.
CM Pinarayi Vijayan said it was the UDF government which introduced Sarfaesi Act for cooperative banks in 2003. “Now that we all oppose Sarfaesi Act, the government will soon exclude cooperative banks from the purview of the act,” said Vijayan.
A few months ago, the Kerala assembly had passed a unanimous resolution asking the Centre to withdraw the inhuman provisions in the Sarfaesi Act. The resolution presented by Vijayan was seconded by Chennithala then.