Raj govt formulates 11 member committee to waive off crop loan upto Rs 50,000

Two weeks after the Vasundhara Raje government in Rajasthan announced that it would waive off crop loan of farmers of up to Rs 50,000, an 11-member high-power committee underwater resources minister Ram Pratap was formed on Sunday night to examine the demands.

The committee, which is scheduled to submit its report in one month, is part of the agreement that the government signed with the CPIM leaders who organised a major agitation of farmers in Shekhawati region in September. The committee includes water resources minister Ram Pratap as its chairman, industries minister Rajpal Singh, agriculture minister Prabhu Lal Saini, co-operatives minister Ajay Singh and energy minister Pushpendra Singh.

However, there is not any farmer leader in the committee and it has irked the farmer agitation leader and former MLA of CPIM Amra Ram. "By not having a farmer leader reveals BJP's anti-farmer character in the state. Also, they were scheduled to form a committee as soon as possible and submit the report in one month but they are late by 18 days " Amra Ram told DH. It is to be recalled that farmers in fourteen districts who were protesting for 13 days broke off their agitation after the government agreed to accept some of their main demands from the list of 11 demands.

Moreover, Congress is also gearing up to launch a massive campaign to mount pressure on the BJP government for a complete waiver of farm loans. Rajasthan state Congress president Sachin Pilot is set to start a Kisan Nyay Yatra in Chief Minister Raje and her son Dushyant Singh’s Assembly and parliamentary constituencies from October 3 to 6. The pilot will walk nearly 100 km in four days from Baran to Jhalawar. The leader of Opposition Rameshwar Dudi including state leaders and AICC functionaries would join at various points.