Rajasthan govt to form panel on farm loan waiver: Minister Rajpal Singh Shekawat

JAIPUR: The state government will form a Rajasthan Agriculture Loan Waiver Commission to lay down rules for waiving farm loans up to Rs 50,000 from cooperative banks as promised in the state Budget.
Industries minister Rajpal Singh Shekawat said that Rajasthan has become the first state to have adopted a transparent system for loan waiver. He claimed that state has allocated Rs 1.35 lakh crore for farmers in the last 4.5 years while informing that commission will not be a toothless body.
“The commission will get a legal cover as the state will form a law,” said Shekawat.
Elaborating on the role of the commission, Shekawat said, “A high level interdepartmental committee will be set up who will decide waiver should be granted to farmers under which categories. The committee will also decide how much the wavier should be provided to the farmers,” said Shekawat.
The minister has also hinted that commission will also look into the possibilities providing benefit to farmers who have taken a load from private banks. “The committee will evaluate the possibility of including the private banks and accordingly form the rules for the same,” said Shekawat.
During the press conference, he fired salvos at the opposition party for forcing a section of farmers to raise the non-issue of farmers’ loan. “Here, I would like to ask Congress party who have done nothing during their reign. It is BJP government which has so far distributed Rs 80, 000 crore of small-term interest free loans to the farmers. Besides, Rs 28,000 subsidies have been given for power to the farmers,” said Shekawat.
He compared the Congress allocation for farmers of Rs 25,000 tenure of 2009-2013 against BJP government’s 1.35 lakh crore allocations to hold the former responsible for farmers’ condition in the state. “Congress had spent Rs 1,451 crore on Minimum Support Price during their reign while we have spent Rs 6,562 crores till date on MSP. It exposes the Congress party claim of being well-wishers of farmers,” said Shekawat.
The move is seen as an attempt to pacify the farmers groups who have threatened to gherao Vidhan Sabha on February 22.