Daijiworld Media Network - Bengaluru(DC)
Bengaluru, Jul 5: Karnataka Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy announced farm loan waiver up to Rs 34,000 crore in the maiden budget of the Congress-JD(S) coalition government's on Thursday July 5. As per the decision, every farmer household will get Rs 2 lac waiver.
"I have decided to limit the loan amount to Rs 2 lac. Due to this crop loan waiver scheme, farmers will get the benefit of Rs 34,000 crore," said H D Kumaraswamy while presenting the budget in Vidhana Soudha.
“All defaulted crop loans of farmers up to December 31, 2017, will be waived in the first stage. Farmers who repaid the loan within time, as an encouragement to the non-defaulting farmers, I have decided to credit the repaid loan amount or Rs 25,000 whichever is less,” he added.
During the election campaign, the Kumaraswamy-led JD(S) had promised to waive farm loans borrowed both from cooperative and nationalised banks within 24 hours of coming to power.
Kumaraswamy, who also holds the finance portfolio, had earlier cited coalition compulsions and the need for studying the financial condition of the state as the reason for the delay in the announcement of loan waiver. Financial experts and some government officials had expressed concern over the impact loan waiver may have on the state's finances.
Earlier, the Congress-JD(S) coordination committee constituted to oversee the smooth functioning of the government had on Sunday approved the Common Minimum Programme, which includes a waiver of farm loans, creation of one crore jobs and allocation of Rs 1.25 lac crore for irrigation over the next five years.
It also included construction of 20 lac houses for homeless families in the state in the next five years, along with the implementation of a universal health policy, 'Arogya Karnataka' of the previous government, among others.