Crop loan waiver: Telangana Rythu Sangam seeks review of norms

All farmers should receive a waiver of up to 2 lakhs, he demanded, pointing out that as per the GO, the government would be considering only one member of a family for the loan waiver by taking the entries in the ration cards into consideration.

Hyderabad: Telangana Rythu Sangam leader M Shobhan on Tuesday appealed to the State government to amend further the provisions for considering farmers for the crop loan waiver.

All farmers should receive a waiver of up to 2 lakhs, he demanded, pointing out that as per the GO, the government would be considering only one member of a family for the loan waiver by taking the entries in the ration cards into consideration. There are instances where members who got separated from the family still continue to be part of the same ration card. This will result in gross injustice to such members.

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There are lakhs of families without Aadhaar card, passbook and ration card. A government survey had revealed that 12 lakh people had applied for pass books in Dharani. Besides this there were lakhs of people who had applied for ration cards. Banks have rescheduled loans of farmers who have suffered crop losses due to droughts and floods enabling them to repay in instalments in three to five years. If the loan waiver was not applicable for them, it would amount to a great deprival.

It has been stipulated that those who have taken a loan of more than Rs.2 lakh, the waiver will be applicable only if they pay off the debt above Rs.2 lakh. There are 72 lakh farmers in the State. But the banks have given loans to only 43 lakh farmers. Only 31 lakh people have been applied under the PM Kisan scheme and hence the PM Kisan scheme data cannot be taken into consideration for extending the loan waiver, he added.