A day after Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar rejected the possibility of expanding Rs 60,000 crore farm loan waiver scheme, as sought by Congress president Sonia Gandhi and AICC general secretary Rahul Gandhi, the Congress on Tuesday said the issue was under consideration of the Finance Ministry and all suggestions would be taken into account in the final Budgetary allocations.“All constructive suggestions, with Rahul Gandhi’s being one of them, are there to be considered in the final passage of the Budgetary grants,” said AICC spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi at a press briefing here, adding the issue was “certainly something which falls in the focus of the Finance Ministry”.Pawar had on Monday said the Government was not in a position to take new responsibilities “till the present commitments are implemented”. His statement has come in the backdrop of suggestions from Sonia and Rahul to revisit the cut-off of two hectares. The Amethi MP had suggested that the Government consider making the land ceiling variable according to land productivity. “There is no question of A rejecting B’s proposal. The provisional allocation and the final allocation are money allocations that are obviously done in the final allocations. That process is happening in Parliament in grants to the Ministry and each and every legitimate demand and legitimate request, each and every perspective is mentioned, debated and taken into account,” Singhvi said.He said as far as further expansion was concerned, all suggestions would be taken into account while making the final allocations in the Budget. “We fully stand behind proper implementation of the Rs 60,000 crore allocation, which is precisely what the Agriculture Minister was talking about,” Singhvi said.
