BENGALURU: The much-talked about farm loan waiver of the JD(S)-Congress coalition government may finally see the light of day in July, albeit with riders. Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy during a ‘meet the press’ event on Tuesday said the budget session would be held in the first or second week of July where the waiver would be announced, but with “scientific modalities”.
While Kumaraswamy said he was identifying a way to plug resource leakage to raise funds, he has also sought the Centre’s help in sharing the financial burden.“The Centre is issuing bonds worth `2 lakh crore to help out nationalised banks over loan defaults of large debtors. I requested the Prime Minister to consider the possibility of diverting 25 per cent of that amount to bail out the farmers,” he said.
Acknowledging that farm loan waiver was a time-consuming process that needed further study, he said, “Irrespective of the size, loan waiver will be implemented but we will ensure that it benefits farmers and not middlemen or cooperative banks. We will decide the timeline and the quantum of loans to be waived.”
He said he would soon call a meeting with the nationalised banks to figure out the modalities.
“I understand that farm loan waiver is not the solution but a necessity, at least this once. I want to ensure a change in agriculture practices. Funds from the government can be released only after the assembly’s approval and hence I am making farm loan waiver a part of the budget,”he added.