The Hindu : Waiver of farm loans an eyewash: Siddaramaiah

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Sep 15, 2003

Southern States

Southern States - Karnataka

Waiver of farm loans an eyewash: Siddaramaiah

By Our Staff Correspondent

Mysore Sept. 14. The President of the State unit of the Janata Dal (S), Siddaramaiah, has said that the Government should waive all loans taken by farmers till March 2003 if it is really serious about solving farmers' problems.

Mr. Siddaramaiah told presspersons here on Sunday that the Government had waived only loans that could not be recovered from the farmers. All the talk about loan waiver was an eyewash since the repayment of these loans had been pending for a long time, he said.

The JD(S) leader repudiated the fear that waiving loans incurred by farmers would hit the exchequer, and pointed out that it could be balanced through fiscal prudence in other sectors. He cited the Transmission and Distribution (T&D) losses in the power sector, which was officially said to be 36 per cent, and said: "if the losses can be reduced by one per cent by enhancing efficiency, the State will save Rs. 100 crore per annum and make good any loss incurred by waiving farmers' loan".

He dubbed the Rs. 856-crore special package for farmers as a "paper package". "The special package has announced the exemption of taxes on open wells, but open wells have long disappeared in rural areas and such exemptions will benefit no one," said Mr. Siddaramaiah. Recalling similar sops announced by the Government in recent years, Mr. Siddaramaiah described the Congress regime as a "Package Government", which had announced "a special package for Bellary (Rs. 3,000 crore), Mandya (Rs. 300 crore), and Bagalkot (Rs. 600 crore). Now comes the special package for farmers. People should pack off this `Package Government' as it does not benefit anyone anymore," Mr. Siddaramaiah said.

Commenting on the much-publicised "surprise visit" of the All Indian Congress Committee President, Sonia Gandhi, to take stock of the drought situation in Karnataka and the spate of suicide by farmers, Mr. Siddaramaiah pointed out that more than 300 farmers in the State had ended their lives. "Yet Sonia Gandhi visited Andhra Pradesh and slammed the Chief Minister of the State, Chandrababu Naidu, ignoring the Congress's pathetic performance in Karnataka," he said.

Mr. Siddaramaiah referred to the controversy raked up by the BJP over the former Prime Minister, H.D. Deve Gowda's alleged remarks that "a section of Lingayats and Vokkaligas consumed beef" and said that it proved the BJP's desperation. "Mr. Deve Gowda never made such a remark. But the BJP is trying to politicise the issue to gain political mileage. Mr. Deve Gowda has never alluded to any caste," Mr. Siddaramaiah said.

He claimed that the BJP's popularity in Karnataka had nose-dived and the party was aware of its position. It had lost every election held in the State in recent years and was on the verge of being obliterated. So, it had resorted to such gimmicks, the JD(S) leader said.

On his party's chances in the Hungund Assembly bypolls, Mr. Siddaramaiah said it was a direct contest between the JD(S) and the Congress, but the JD(S) would win.

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