The Hindu : Kerala News : Government package for drought-hit farmers

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Apr 14, 2004

Kerala

Kerala

Government package for drought-hit farmers

By Our Special Correspondent

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, APRIL 13. The Cabinet on Tuesday extended a number of relief measures to farmers hit by drought in the State. The measures include lifting of income ceiling for compensation and rescheduling and extension of moratorium on recovery of loans.

The Chief Minister, A.K. Antony, told presspersons after the Cabinet meeting that all farmers who had lost not less than 50 per cent of their crop would be eligible for compensation irrespective of their incomes. In the case of paddy, compensation would be provided if 25 per cent of the cultivated area had been destroyed by drought.

The moratorium on revenue recovery of defaulted loans from financial institutions would be extended by one year. A moratorium of six months had been announced earlier.

Short-term loans from primary cooperatives, repayable during 2003-04, would be rescheduled over five years. The term of long-term loans would be extended by one year and the farmers exempted from payment of interest on the principal for one year.

The Chief Minister said paddy, banana, tapioca, ginger and pineapple would be brought under the National Agriculture Insurance Scheme. The Centre would be requested to write off loans of up to Rs. 50,000 availed by farmers from national banks and cooperatives if their crops had been totally destroyed. The State Government would supply seeds and lime to farmers who have lost their entire crop through Krishi Bhavans for their next crop.

Mr. Antony recalled that the Government had doubled the compensation for the loss of 34 crops last month. The compensation would not be available to plantations, he clarified.

The Chief Minister said the relief package was drawn up by the Finance Minister, K. Sankaranarayanan, and the Minister for Cooperation, M.V. Raghavan.

He said the Centre was considering the State's request for assistance for drought relief. It had not yet released even the Rs. 49 crores sanctioned earlier.

He recalled that the response of the Union Finance Minister to the additional memorandum submitted by the State seeking Central assistance for drought relief was positive. The Centre was expected to send another team to assess the losses, he said.

Mr. Antony felt that the actual loss would exceed the estimate of Rs. 2,844 crores given in the memorandum.

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