Farm loan waiver: Panel report likely by June 15

Mukesh Ranjan

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, May 23

An expert group headed by NITI Aayog adviser Dr T Haque, constituted by the Punjab Government to look into the waiver of farm loans, is likely to submit its interim report before June 15.

The state government is keen on rolling out a relief package for indebted farmers during the Budget session next month.

The group, which includes Baldev Singh Dhillon, VC, PAU; Dr Balwinder Singh Sidhu, state’s Agriculture Commissioner; and PK Joshi, South Asia Director, International Food Policy Research Institute; met here today. It is learnt that Dr T Haque and the others deliberated upon various options the government can chose from for implementation.

Dr Haque said, “We met for the second time and are in the process of tabulating data to analyse and firm up the quantum of debt. Some data is there with us and some needed to be collected from lenders and the RBI. Possibly, we will be able to quantify the total loan before the next meeting in the coming week.”

However, sources privy to the meeting stated that out of the total 20 lakh crop loan accounts, 60 per cent belonged to marginal farmers, whose land holding is below 5 acres. “There are 5.71 lakh accounts belonging to marginal farmers and 8.15 lakh are with small farmers,” an official said.

Meanwhile, “not completely ruling out the Uttar Pradesh model” where farmers are being given loan waiver up to Rs 1 lakh, a senior NITI Aayog official said, “This may not work in the case of Punjab, given the state’s financial health. The experts are working on various scenarios, assessing the burden on the exchequer.”

Govt working out solution, says Capt

Chandigarh: Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh on Tuesday appealed to the debt-ridden farmers in the state not to commit suicide and assured them that the government was working on fulfilling its poll promise of debt waiver. Asserting that there would not be any “kurki” — auction of mortgaged land of farmers, he wondered whether the government’s message of debt waiver was reaching the farming community. “Last month, 21 farmers committed suicide. Don’t take such steps,” Capt Amarinder told farmers, adding, “We are here for you and we have made a promise (debt waiver) in this regard.” “The way they (farmers) commit suicides…I don’t understand this scenario,” said the CM. Capt said the government had already set up an expert group led by T Haque, former chairman of the Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices, to assess the quantum of agricultural debt of farmers in the state and suggest way and means for its waiver. 

The CM said the group had been asked to submit its report to the government within 60 days. PTI