State urges Centre to write off 50% farm loans

The Karnataka government has urged the Centre to waive 50% of crop loans availed by the farmers from nationalised banks and central lending agencies.

In a written reply to the Rajya Sabha, Minister of State for Finance Shiv Pratap Shukla said, “The state government of Karnataka has requested the Union government to waive 50 per cent of the agricultural loans availed by the farmers from commercial banks/RRBs/cooperative banks.”

However, there is no proposal under consideration of the Union government to waive the loans, the minister added.

The Minister for Cooperation, Bandeppa Kashempur, had informed Karnataka Legislative Assembly that loan waiver scheme in the state had helped only 800 farmers, so far.

Bandeppa Kashempur informed the Assembly that the government has received 43 lakh applications, seeking farm loan waiver, of which, 20 lakh applications are for the waiver of
agricultural loans taken from cooperative banks and societies.

The H D Kumaraswamy-led JD(S)-Congress coalition government had announced a scheme to write off Rs 44,000 crore crop loan after coming to power in May, this year.