-Outlook UPA’s populist trumpcard of 2008—the farm loan waiver—has fallen short of its intended target, as a CAG audit throws up The Scheme 2008 Union finance minister P. Chidambaram announces farmer debt waiver and relief scheme in budget; PM Manmohan Singh writes to beneficiaries “seeking their support” Rs 52,275 cr Total money that was disbursed to eligible farmers across the nation as part of loan waiver scheme Rs 50,000 The loan...
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No More Juice To Squeeze-Panini Anand
-Outlook Hapur: Its benefit to farmers was well touted. The reality of the loan waiver is less creditable. In the early hours of a foggy morning in the sugarcane belt of western Uttar Pradesh, produce-laden bullock carts move about in Rasoolpur village, Hapur district, about 50 km from Delhi. As good a spot as any to gauge the impact of the ambitious loan waiver scheme for farmers announced by the UPA-I...
More »CAG finds flaws in implementation of debt waiver scheme
-PTI The government auditor CAG has found irregularities in disbursement of funds under the Rs 52,000-crore farm debt waiver scheme, 2008, as benefits have been taken by some ineligible farmers. Taking note of the the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) Performance Audit of the Agricultural Debt Waiver and Debt Relief Scheme (ADWDRS) 2008, RBI has asked the banks to recover money from ineligible beneficiaries. It has also advised the banks to lodge FIRs...
More »Notifying Farming as an Essential Service: An Authoritarian Manoeuvre-SAHRDC
-Economic and Political Weekly The Government of India is considering a proposal to notify farming as an essential service. This is ostensibly to bring drought relief to farmers suffering from a weak monsoon - a laudable goal indeed. However, if farming is deemed an "essential service", farmers and farm workers could lose many of their political and civic rights because the government can then invoke the Essential Services Maintenance Act to...
More »Punjab budgets for farm suicides-Sukhdeep Kaur
Punjab’s agricultural sector grew at 1.6 per cent during the 11th Plan against the national average of 3.41 per cent. The growth is tardy owing to near saturation in productivity. The rural debts in Punjab are estimated to be Rs 35,000 crore. The number of indebted rural households in Punjab is 66 per cent, third highest in the country after Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu. The Government of India’s debt...
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