BENGALURU: Karnataka Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy may have hoped to win kudos for waiving crop loans worth Rs 34,000 crore, but farmers are not amused. Irate with Kumaraswamy for not keeping his promise of a “full waiver”, they have now decided to stage a statewide protest demanding waiver of all loans to the tune of a whopping Rs 1.20 lakh crore. “With this waiver, Kumaraswamy has only tried to pacify farmers, but who will reimburse the remaining Rs 86,000 crore loans? The state, as well as the central governments, have to waive these loans immediately, or else we will be pushed to take up massive protests,” warned Kodihalli Chandrashekhar, president, Karnataka Rajya Raitha Sangha. The farmers’ association met on Friday to discuss the crop loan waiver announced by Kumaraswamy in his maiden budget.
The first protest by farmers will be held in Bengaluru on July 9 to press the government to waive all existing farm loans, irrespective of the amount and size of land holdings. On July 21, a massive rally of farmers is scheduled to be held in Haveri to reiterate the community’s demand for a blanket waiver. Kumaraswamy has already increased taxes of fuel, electricity, vehicles and liquor to raise funds, apart from going for additional borrowing for the loan waiver. “Farmers’ suicides are continuing till date because many of them are not getting the benefits of the waiver. We appeal to Kumaraswamy, B S Yeddyurappa and Prime Minister Narendra Modi to keep their politics aside and help farmers. Saving them from the vicious cycle of debt is their responsibility,” Chandrashekhar added.
The Raitha Sangha had decided to flag off a “non-repayment” agitation across the state, but that has been put on hold till the Haveri convention. Sources in the government now reveal that while the waiver has been announced, it will ideally take up to three months for the process to be completed. Waiver of loans from the informal sector as well as regulation of money lenders are also some of the demands being put forth by farmers.
“It is our demand that loans from the informal sector should also be waived. There are more loans and steep interest in the sector with no regulation. Farmers end up paying close to 60% interest to moneylenders,” said Maruti Manpade, president of Karnataka Prantha Raitha Sangha.
In his debut budget, Kumaraswamy announced a waiver of all crop loans up to `2 lakh availed till December 31, 2017. Ever since his meeting with farmers after he took over as Chief Minister, the community has been demanding a waiver of all existing loans till May 2018, irrespective of the loan size. The JD(S), in its manifesto, had promised to waive all farm loans within 24 hours of coming to power. The promise seems to have now boomeranged with farmers demanding what was promised by Kumaraswamy, who is also the state chief of a party which takes pride in its pro-farmer image.
What Lies Ahead
■ Farmers who are eligible for loan waiver will have to wait at least 3 months before they can get a ‘debt-free’ certificate which qualifies them to avail fresh credit
■ Government will first ask banks to prepare a database of farmers eligible for the waiver and their liabilities
■ After a final list is compiled, the govt will divide the total reimbursement into four equal instalments. Only after this process, banks will hand out ‘debt-free’ certificates to farmers
■ Those who have not renewed
their loans with banks will not receive any fresh loans for the kharif crop