CPM demands corrections in crop loan waiver guidelines

CPI (M) State Secretary T Veerabhadram demanded the State government to amend the guidelines issued for the crop loan waiver, citing that many farmers would not get benefited due to the terms and conditions listed out in the scheme.

Hyderabad: The CPI (M) State unit demanded the State government to amend the guidelines issued for the crop loan waiver, citing that many farmers would not get benefited due to the terms and conditions listed out in the scheme.

The State government said ration cards would be used for implementing the scheme. Many joint families got divided and about 10 lakh families were still running from pillar to post to get new ration cards. All such families would not be eligible for loan waiver, CPI (M) State Secretary T Veerabhadram said in a statement here on Tuesday.

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As per the guidelines, passbooks, Aadhar and ration cards database would be integrated for crop loan waiver eligibility. Many farmers, who do not posses passbooks, have applied for the same with the government as glitches in the Dharani portal delayed the issue of passbooks. Due to the passbook integration, many small and marginal farmers would not get benefited under the scheme, he pointed out.

It was also mentioned that SHG, Joint Liability Groups, Rythu Mithra and tenant farmers owning identity cards, would not be eligible for crop loan waiver. This would adversely impact the tenant and small and marginal farmers, he said.

Majority of the SHG women in the rural areas utilize the loan amount for agriculture. Most of the women in these groups hail from dalit, tribal and BC communities and it was also mentioned in the guidelines that due to natural calamities, restructured loans would also not be considered under loan waiver scheme, the CPI (M) State secretary said, demanding that renewal loans and those which had been collected, should also be made eligible under the scheme.