The Hindu : Karnataka News : Centre considering uniform loan waiver policy, says Sharad Pawar

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Centre considering uniform loan waiver policy, says Sharad Pawar

Staff Correspondent

‘Prime Minister has set up Radhakrishna Committee to free farmers from debts’

Sharad Pawar

MYSORE: Taking a cue from Karnataka’s decision to waive agriculture loans up to Rs. 25,000 obtained from cooperative institutions, the Union Government is considering a proposal to formulate a uniform loan waiver policy for farmers all over the country.

Speaking after inaugurating a four-day valedictory of the centenary celebrations of the cooperative movement in Mysore on Thursday, Union Minister for Agriculture Sharad Pawar said the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) Government had set up the Radhakrishna Committee aimed at liberating farmers from debts. “Prime Minister Manmohan Singh discussed the loan waiver scheme of Karnataka with me and Finance Minister P. Chidambaram and constituted the Radhakrishna Committee to consider a uniform loan waiver policy,” he said.

Claiming that the Radhakrishna Committee submitted its report two days ago, Mr. Pawar said the Government will consider the recommendations and standby farmers in their hour of crisis.

“I have not seen the committee’s recommendations yet,” Mr. Pawar added.

Mr. Pawar saw no reason why the UPA Government should not come to the rescue of the farmers when the Government and the banks, about six years ago, had waived dues of steel companies and helped the industry emerge from the red.

Similarly, dues worth more than Rs. 16,000 crore had been waived for the benefit of the textile industry, which was in doldrums about six years ago.

Mr. Pawar said the agriculture credit policy of the UPA Government introduced in June 2004 had resulted in an impressive growth of agriculture credit flow from Rs. 86,981 crore in 2003-04 to Rs. 203,297 crore in 2006-07, showing an annual growth rate of more than 30 per cent.

However, the share of the cooperative institutions in the agriculture credit flow has come down from 31 per cent in 2003-04 to 21 per cent in 2006-07.

Downslide

“This downslide is a pointer to the fact that there are lacunae in the system that need to be plugged urgently. We need to take stock of the situation and work out viable solutions,” he said.

Stating that agriculture in India had become an economically unviable occupation, he said that 82 per cent of farming families in India owned less than two acres of land and 60 per cent of them had agriculture land in rain-fed areas.

With land-holding of farmers declining, Mr. Pawar said the land owned by farmers will continue to dwindle as population increases.

When India achieved freedom in 1947, its population was 35 crore, 80 per cent of whom were engaged in agriculture. Now, the population had soared to 106 crore and 62 per cent of them are agriculturists.

“Though the number of people dependent on agriculture had increased, there is no corresponding expansion of agricultural land,” he added. Mr. Pawar said it was inevitable for people to shift to non-agricultural occupations.

“There is a need for people to educate themselves and take up non-agricultural vocations,” he added.

Referring to the growing number of farmers’ suicides in the country, including Karnataka, Mr. Pawar said agriculture will become economically viable only if a good number of people in farming shift to other occupation.

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