Gehlot rejigs farm loan waiver promise

A day after Congress leaders Ashok Gehlot took charge as Chief Minister of Rajasthan and Sachin Pilot was made deputy chief minister, farmer leaders reminded them of promised loan waiver.

Interestingly, Congress party, which in its pre-poll campaigns had promised to waive farm loans within ten days of government formation, has back tracked on its earlier statement. Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot told media, "The days will be counted from the date of the first cabinet meeting. It will be implemented within 10 days after the first cabinet meeting." The State is facing a debt burden of Rs 3 lakh crore.

Farmers' agitations took place in Rajasthan's Shekhawati region in 2017, led by CPI (M). Amra Ram, All India Kisan Sabha Vice President, told DH, "Two days have gone after the Congress came to power; they had announced farm loan waiver, which would cost over Rs 1 lakh crore to the exchequer. Unlike Madhya Pradesh, here in Rajasthan they look non-serious."

Partial waiver

In Madhya Pradesh, the newly-constituted Congress government has announced waiver of short-term loans up to Rs 2 lakh, which is against the spirit of complete loan waiver promise. Rajasthan Deputy Chief Minister Sachin Pilot said, "We would be doing it soon. We will keep our poll promises. We are meeting the officers and getting details to have a comprehensive farm loan waiver."

Before the Assembly elections, Vasundhara Raje government had announced waiver of farm loans of up to Rs 50,000 per farmer, taken from cooperative banks. Raje government took a loan of Rs 5,000 crore from the National Cooperative Development Corporation (NCDC) to waive loans worth Rs 8,500 crore. The BJP government claimed that it has benefitted around 30 lakh farmers.