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Journalism of Courage
Under pressure from the opposition for alleged discrepancies in the farm loan waiver scheme,Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Wednesday told Parliament that stringent possible action would be initiated if any defaulters are found.
His statement came after the BJP got its demand for a short discussion on the issue in Lok Sabha. In the Rajya Sabha,BJPs Ravi Shankar Prasad raised the matter that led to an uproar,forcing the PM to give an assurance. The reference is to the CAG report on loan waiver scheme. This is a matter which should be entrusted to Public Accounts Committee as per normal practice. If there are any irregularities,which have been shown,I assure the House that we will take stringent possible action against the defaulters, Singh said.
In the Lok Sabha,leaders across party lines slammed the government for faulty implementation of the scheme and sought action against banking and financing institutions for the alleged irregularities in the Rs 52,000 crore scheme.
Leader of Opposition Sushma Swaraj said the deserving did not get their dues while the scheme benefited thousands who were not eligible. Swaraj pointed out that RBI had asked banks to audit their records and rectify all mistakes by January 31 but no action has yet been taken on the matter.
Accusing the government of sleeping,Swaraj said a thorough review was required and if the fault in disbursement lies with states,even that should be brought to light.
Her views were echoed by several members who spoke from different political parties,all demanding immediate action against the guilty as well as early discussion on the matter before the parliamentary accounts committee.
JDUs Sharad Yadav said he had brought up the matter before the Finance Minister after visiting the villages but no action was taken. Others who spoke included SPs Rewati Raman Singh,BSPs Dara Singh Chauhan and CPI Ms Basudeb Acharia.
Pawar junks BJPs charge of loan scam
Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar dismissed BJPs charges of large scale misappropriation and said the small sample used by CAG was insufficient to give a clear picture.
Money has been sent to banks. Accounts and beneficiary list has been selected by banks under the supervision of RBI and NABARD. Money has directly been transferred to accounts. Where is the question of misappropriation? Pawar said. We have to understand out of 3.7 crore accounts,CAG has taken sample of 90,576 accounts. That means 0.25 per cent accounts have been audited. With such a big scheme announced throughout India,coming to conclusion with such small figure,I think I should get more information, he said.
