Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram   

18 lakh farmers in State to benefit from loan waiver

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: As many as 18 lakh small and marginal farmers in the State will get 10 per cent of the Rs.60,000-crore agriculture loan waiver scheme announced by the Centre, Union Minister of State for Planning and Parliamentary Affairs N. Narayana Swamy has said.

Mr. Swamy was here on Sunday to address a farmers’ rally held to mark the culmination of the ‘Karshaka Munnetta Yatra’ led by Kerala Pradesh Karshaka Congress president Lal Varghese Kalpakavadi.

The guidelines of the scheme will be issued by April 30 and loan waiver certificates will be issued by June 30. Finance Minister P. Chidambaram is monitoring the implementation of the scheme. The government has received complaints that some bank officials are not entertaining the requests of the farmers. Stringent action will be taken against bank officials trying to meddle with the scheme. Certain cooperative banks in the State are trying to reschedule the loans. This will be inimical to the interests of the farmers, he said.

The Planning Commission will monitor the implementation of Centrally-sponsored schemes in the States. The decision has been made in the wake of complaints that certain States are not effectively utilising the funds sanctioned under 14 schemes of the Centre. The performance of Kerala is also being reviewed, he said.

Inflation is an international phenomenon and not confined to the country alone. It is mainly owing to the increase in commodity prices all over the world. The government has succeeded in arresting inflation from 7.4 per cent to 7.14 per cent, as against 17 per cent in Europe and 10 per cent in China. A final decision on futures trading will be made within a week, he said.

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