The Tamil Nadu All Farmers Associations Coordination Committee has urged the State government to include farmers’ representatives in the high-level committee headed by the former Reserve Bank of India Governor, C. Rangarajan to assess medium impact of COVID-19 pandemic.
In a statement issued on Monday, committee president P. R. Pandian welcomed the State government’s decision to form the high-level committee but regretted that non-inclusion of farmers’ representatives have dampened the spirits of farmers.
Claiming that the COVID-19 virus pandemic had serious implications on agriculture operations, he urged the Tamil Nadu government to ensure that farmers’ representatives were also included in the committee so as to present a clear picture of the situation in which the farmers were in.
Though the Union government had announced that agriculture loans were also eligible for moratorium, bankers insist on repayment of loans with penal interest.
Similarly, the crop insurance compensation for the year 2018-19 season which was released to some farmers belatedly had been adjusted against the loans availed by them. Further, the compensation, if any, for the crops insured in 2019-20 had not been announced though the farmers have suffered losses in some areas, he said.