Deprecated (16384): The ArrayAccess methods will be removed in 4.0.0.Use getParam(), getData() and getQuery() instead. - /home/brlfuser/public_html/src/Controller/ArtileDetailController.php, line: 150
 You can disable deprecation warnings by setting `Error.errorLevel` to `E_ALL & ~E_USER_DEPRECATED` in your config/app.php. [CORE/src/Core/functions.php, line 311]
Deprecated (16384): The ArrayAccess methods will be removed in 4.0.0.Use getParam(), getData() and getQuery() instead. - /home/brlfuser/public_html/src/Controller/ArtileDetailController.php, line: 151
 You can disable deprecation warnings by setting `Error.errorLevel` to `E_ALL & ~E_USER_DEPRECATED` in your config/app.php. [CORE/src/Core/functions.php, line 311]
Warning (512): Unable to emit headers. Headers sent in file=/home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Error/Debugger.php line=853 [CORE/src/Http/ResponseEmitter.php, line 48]
Warning (2): Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at /home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Error/Debugger.php:853) [CORE/src/Http/ResponseEmitter.php, line 148]
Warning (2): Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at /home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Error/Debugger.php:853) [CORE/src/Http/ResponseEmitter.php, line 181]
LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Waiver of farm loans to be decided on case by case basis

Waiver of farm loans to be decided on case by case basis

Share this article Share this article
published Published on Apr 22, 2011   modified Modified on Apr 22, 2011
The case of each areca grower who has taken loans from cooperative societies or banks will be studied individually to determine whether the farmer is genuinely unable to repay the loan.

This decision was taken at a meeting of areca growers with Deputy Commissioner Subodh Yadav and officials of various departments on Thursday.

Mr. Yadav made the suggestion after listening to a delegation of farmers, most of them members of the Karnataka Rajya Raitha Sangha (KRRS) and Hasiru Sene. He said there might be cases of farmers who were not repaying loans because they genuinely did not have the means to do so.

Earlier, KRRS district secretary Ravi Kiran Poonacha spoke about the circumstances which had lead farmers to become buried neck-deep in debt and led some of them to commit suicide in the district. Several years ago market prices collapsed and remain too low even to enable recovery of input cost, Mr. Poonacha said.

Despite this, the minimum support price fixed by the government barely covered input cost.

The problem had escalated to this level indebtedness because loans had never been repaid in the district, he said. Cooperative banks had been showing loan recovery, which was only on paper.

In reality, he said, farmers had simply renewed their loans because of their inability to repay them, he said. Fixing a scientific procurement price for arecanut, waiving the loans of farmers, cessation of forcibly seizing the assets of farmers were among the demands put forth by farmers, and compensation for farmers whose plantations had been destroyed by the yellow-leaf disease.

An official of the Horticulture Department said a proposal had been sent to the Centre for the revision of arecanut price to Rs. 114 three months ago.

Mr. Yadav then directed the Department of Horticulture and Campco to take inputs from areca growers during a joint meeting and fix a “scientific price” for the procurement of farmers, and forward a supplementary report to the State government. Mr. Yadav suggested that areca growers meet separately with officials from the Department of Cooperation to sort problems with regard to loans.

An official of the Cooperation Department said that according to rules even farmers repaid even 25 per cent of the loan the proceedings to seize assets could be withdrawn.

Food crops

Mr. Poonacha said that farmers were of the opinion that despite spending 20 years in research, scientists were not able to find out the cause or cure for yellow-leaf disease. Therefore, they were ready to shift to food crops provided the Government gave them financial assistance. Mr. Yadav said this information could be forwarded to the State government as such a decision was not in his hands.

During the meeting, which lasted over three hours, farmers spoke about problems they faced in the implementation of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act.

Towards the end of the meeting, Mr. Yadav suggested that farmers could meet officials of the Departments of Agriculture, Horticulture, and so on once in a month or once in two months to discuss issues with them.

The KRRS said it was opposed to the use of endosulfan and that compensation should be paid to the victims.

The Hindu, 22 April, 2011, http://www.hindu.com/2011/04/22/stories/2011042258700100.htm


Related Articles

 

Write Comments

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

*

Video Archives

Archives

share on Facebook
Twitter
RSS
Feedback
Read Later

Contact Form

Please enter security code
      Close