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Resource centre on India's rural distress
 
 

Government eyeing quick fix for farm sector -Nistula Hebbar

-The Hindu

Election jolt makes party look at ways to boost rural income; BJP chief commissions survey

The defeat in the Assembly elections in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh has made the government go back to the drawing board over the issue of rural distress, and some measures to bolster incomes in the countryside may be announced by the end of the winter session of Parliament.

While the problems plaguing the agriculture sector are long-standing and need long-term solutions, there is a realisation that rural incomes need to be bolstered.

Series of meetings

According to senior sources in the government, there have been a series of meetings at the top level to thrash out some solution to the problem of shrinking levels of cash in hand in rural areas, something that has cost the BJP dear in the recent polls.

“Many measures have been discussed but of course these can only be short term as the Budget this time can only be a vote on account with no additional outlays. For example, the Telangana model of providing income support or subsidy per acre to farmers (amalgamating all other subsidies given on fertilizer, seeds and so on) has been discussed but the problem with that is that it only benefits landowners and not tenant-farmers. Legislation that was being considered to amend tenancy laws haven’t been framed yet, so it is a way, but is flawed in basic ways,” said a source.

One idea that sources said was getting great support from “below” was to enhance the borrowing limit on Kisan Credit Cards from Rs. 3 lakh a year to Rs. 5 lakh, thereby immediately increasing access to easy credit. The flaw in that proposal is the fact that those who have difficulty paying back Rs. 3 lakh may find it more difficult to pay back Rs. 5 lakh.

Modification proposed

“There is, however, a modification that has been proposed, which is to increase the term of renewal from once a year to three years, that is, the term for returning the credit amount to avail fresh credit be a once-in-three-years affair with only the interest on credit to be paid annually,” said the source.

Politically too, the ruling party is mindful that rural India could be its Waterloo in the 2019 polls. Sources say that BJP chief Amit Shah has commissioned a large-scale survey from an independent survey agency on issues that are gaining traction in the countryside. The deadline for that too is early January.

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