© The Indian Express Pvt Ltd
Tags:
Journalism of Courage
Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel on Monday promised farmers of the state another loan waiver if voted back to power. The Congress had made the same promise before the 2018 elections, and soon after winning, waived off around Rs 9,000 crore in loans and another Rs 350 crore in irrigation tax.
Justifying his loan waiver offer, Baghel told mediapersons: “Supporting our farmers has strengthened our economy. In the last five years, we saw an increase in trade and business. Price rise, the effect of which has been felt strongly in other states, is hard to find in Chhattisgarh. The money which went into the pockets of farmers came back to the market. That doesn’t happen when you give money to big industrialists. The Centre waived off bad loans to industrialists worth Rs 14.5 lakh crore, but what positive effect did it have on our economy?… But when we waived off farmers’ loans, it brought positive change in the lives of farmers and traders.”
Baghel made the loan waiver announcement while accompanying Assembly Speaker Charan Das Mahant, the MLA from Sakti. He made four other promises, with the promise of a caste census for OBCs being seen as a potentially critical factor in 51 seats.
His third promise is to set up a Chief Minister’s Awas Yojana for 17.5 lakh poor families. This is in response to the PM’s recent criticism of the state government’s alleged failure in implementing the PM Awas Yojana, and promise to implement it in the state if the BJP is voted to power.
Baghel also promised to launch free bus service for students in the state.
Between 2019 and January 2023, the Congress government in Chhattisgarh took loans worth Rs 54,491.68 crore in total, 66.35% of the amount taken by the state government since Chhattisgarh’s formation. The principal amount in the total unpaid loan from 2000 to January 2023 is Rs 82,125 crore. This doesn’t include the interest. Any loan waiver will add to this figure.
Baghel had also announced implementation of the Old Pension Scheme (OPS) earlier this year, which will add an additional burden to the loan amount. Further, a 5% hike in dearness allowance has been announced to state employees, which will cost the state exchequer Rs 1,000 crore annually.
His other promises included rice procurement of 20 quintals per acre, a 5 quintal increase in what was being previously procured. Under Congress rule, both the amount of rice procurement and the number of rice cultivators has significantly increased due to an additional input subsidy being given by the state government over the MSP given by the Centre.
In earlier statements, Baghel had said, “Procurement of paddy at Rs 2,500 per quintal (including the Centre’s Minimum Support Price (MSP), which increases every year, and an additional constant input subsidy of Rs 750 per month per acre given by the state government under the Rajiv Gandhi Kisan Nyay Yojna, has helped increase the production of paddy from 56 lakh metric tonnes in 2019 to 107 lakh metric tonnes in 2023.”
Farmers are key to the state Assembly elections, to be held over two phases, on November 7 and 17.
