Daijiworld Media Network - Bengaluru (SP)
Bengaluru, Jun 30: Putting to rest all speculations on the issue, the common minimum programme (CMP) committee of the coalition government which met here on Friday June 29 gave its nod for waiver of all crop loans raised by the farmers in the state.
The committee headed by MP and former chief minister, M Veerappa Moily, held widespread discussions on various schemes of the government. Most of the discussions related to waiver of farm loans. The meeting decided to waive all types of crop loans raised by farmers, pay maternity allowance of Rs 6,500 per month to pregnant women for a period of six months, three months before delivery and three more months thereafter, continuing most of the popular schemes started by the previous Congress government, and other schemes on which both the parties are able to reach consensus.
Once this recommendation is accepted by the government, crop loans raised by agriculturists from April 1, 2009, that are outstanding as on May 31, 2018, will be waived.
It was also decided to recommend to the government to earmark a sum of Rs 1.25 lac crore for irrigation. The committee will be submitting a report along with blue print of schemes which are proposed to be implemented during the next five years.
As soon as the meeting commenced, JD(S) representatives, Bandeppa Kashempur and H D Revanna, stuck to their demand for waiver of all the loans of farmers. Veerappa Moily and R V Deshpande opposed this demand, pointing out that such a step will throw the budget out of gear. They argued that the waiver can he affected in phases.
When Revanna said that in his party's election manifesto, it was promised to waive all farm loans, the Congress leaders asked to show resources through which such a big amount can be met. Revanna came up with the suggestion to put on hold schemes like Ganga Kalyana being implemented by social welfare department and clean drinking water scheme of rural development department, where large scale corruption is taking place, and also Indira Canteen scheme which has been eating up lot of funds. But Congress leaders firmly stood against discontinuance of schemes introduced by their government.
As per the current plan, out of outstanding crop loans of Rs 23,000 crore, about Rs 18 to 20,000 crore would be waived now, and the balance would be paid in the form of bonds to farmers on the lines of Telangana government. Depending on the financial condition of the government, loan amounts will be directly paid to nationalized and cooperative banks.
After the meeting, Veerappa Moily said that all issues were discussed in a harmonious environment and that recommendation is being made to waive crop loans of farmers. The recommendation of the committee will now be placed before the coordination committee headed by former chief minister, Siddaramaiah.