Daijiworld Media Network - Raichur (MS)

Raichur, Jan 6: "The farmers of the stare need not panic with regards to the waiver of farm loans. There is no question of backtracking from the decision of loan waiver," said chief minister (CM) H D Kumaraswamy on the wake of the criticism on the same by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Kumaraswamy was speaking at Sindhanur near here. Assuring the public, he further said, "Have faith on the government. Promises will be fulfilled. We have a thought to improve the living standards of 6.5 crore people of the state."

"The budget will be presented in the month of February. During that time I will announce the complete waiver of farm loans taken by the farmers from all the nationalized banks. Already Rs 6,500 crore is kept aside for this purpose as the first installment," said the chief minister.

Giving further clarification on the subject, Kumaraswamy said, "We are waiving the loans by following the easiest guidelines in the whole country. However, certain conditions are put on the loans of co-operative banks, as secretaries of these banks themselves are taking the benefit of the loan waiver. It is being accused that the government is utilizing the funds of other departments for loan waiver. However, not a single rupee from the funds of other department is used for this purpose. There is no relation between the Rs 50,000 loan waiver announced by the earlier government of Siddaramaiah and the loan waiver that is promised by me. The people who had got the benefit of the Siddaramaiah governments' loan waiver are eligible for this loan waiver also."

"We are aware of the plight of the farmers and daily wage labourers of the state. We have a thought of providing employment to families of those who do not own land. There are 4.5 lac street vendors. They will be given loans from a minimum of Rs 1,000 to maximum of Rs 10,000 loan without interest. Women groups will be given loan upto Rs five lac under the Kayaka scheme," clarified Kumaraswamy.