More pre-poll sops for farmers

It's raining pre-election sops in Maharashtra. First, the ruling Democratic Front tried to appease the big farmers in the state by announcin...

It’s raining pre-election sops in Maharashtra. First, the ruling Democratic Front tried to appease the big farmers in the state by announcing free power. In the latest populist move, the government today announced an interest waiver of Rs 211 crore for loans taken by nearly 30 lakh small and marginal farmers across the state.

Unfazed by criticism over his populist moves ahead of the Assembly polls, Chief Minister Sushilkumar Shinde said here that the decision would benefit poor farmers hit by the drought. Only farmers with land-holdings of less than 5 hectares would be eligible for the waiver, he clarified.

He was responding to questions about the move in the context of the impending code of conduct and the state’s debt burden of over Rs 1,00,000 crore.

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‘‘The decision to waive interest on loans availed by small and marginal farmers is taken in view of the severe drought-like situation prevailing in parts of the state for the last five years,’’ the CM told reporters after a Cabinet meeting.

The government will reimburse the interest on loans taken by farmers from co-operative institutions and nationalised banks, he said. Of the Rs 211 crore, the government would pay co-operative banks Rs 150 crore in view of the hit they would take from the waiver, said Shinde. The balance of Rs 60 crore would go to various nationalised banks.

The total loan amount taken by farmers from these sources amounted to Rs 1,627 crore. Farmers who had availed of loans for the Rabi season of 2003 and the Kharif season of 2004 would be eligible for the waiver, Shinde added.

He said similar proposals were being considered for sugarcane and grape farmers, but the Cabinet decided to assist the small and marginal farmers on a ‘‘priority basis’’. Asked why cooperative banks were charging interest rates higher than market rates from farmers, he said efforts were on to ‘‘streamline the process’’.

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