Karnataka

Promises wilt in the drought, poll code hits many farmers

Anusha Ravi

BENGALURU: The election heat in the state has all but cooled off, but thousands of farmers who are eagerly anticipating the farm loan waiver will have to wait longer, thanks to the Model Code of Conduct which will be in place till May 25. So far, about 18.6 lakh beneficiaries have been identified from among the applicants as eligible for the estimated Rs 45,000 crore waiver.

With a deadline in place to waive loans from cooperative banks and the Model Code of Conduct stalling new registrations, the bigger question is whether thousands of farmers who haven’t registered themselves yet, will receive fresh loans before Kharif crop.

Many farmers, despite being beneficiaries under the loan waiver scheme in the state could not apply for fresh loans in the Rabi season as well due to delays and pending loans.

The Karnataka government on Wednesday restarted the implementation of the multi-crore farm loan waiver that had been put on hold in owing to the Lok Sabha polls. While the news may bring cheer to 18.6 lakh farmers who have already been identified as beneficiaries, fresh applicants will have to wait for a month. The process of identifying new eligible beneficiaries for the waiver will commence only after May 25.

“The Election Commission has stated that all beneficiaries who had been identified by names before March 10, 2019, may receive waiver post

April 23, 2019. The process of identifying new beneficiaries will begin after May 25,” said Munish Moudgil, commissioner, Survey, Settlement and Land Records and the man behind the crop loan waiver portal.

‘Govt had written to ECI about farm loan waiver’

The state government had written to the Election Commission of India seeking permission to go ahead with the implementation of the farm loan waiver even before polling in the state. “The government had written to the ECI about the implementation of farm loan waiver. It was communicated clearly to the state that the waiver cannot be rolled out until the conclusion of polls,” said Dr K G Jagadeesh, Additional CEO, in charge of the implementation of Model Code of Conduct.

Polling concluded in Karnataka on Tuesday and the government started the process of disbursing loans the very next day. “In all, Rs2,600 crore was deposited in apex banks to waive cooperative bank loans. Before the Model Code of Conduct, Rs1,900 had already been disbursed. The department began disbursing the rest of the Rs700 crore from Wednesday,” said Bandeppa Kashempur, Minister for Cooperation.

“For the first time in the history of the state, we have taken up the crop loan waiver scheme at such a large scale. It was estimated that approximately 40 lakh farmers will come under this scheme,” Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy had declared in his 2019-20 budget speech. In tune with Kumaraswamy’s budget speech deadline for waiver of loans in cooperative banks, Kashempur said the entire process of disbursal will be completed by the end of June.

The code of conduct, however, has the least impact on loans availed from nationalised banks. The government insists that the process of waiver of loans taken from commercial banks has been underway without hiccups since the ECI imposed no restrictions on it. “So far, Rs 2,800 crore have been released into farmers’ loan accounts in nationalised banks. Data of 15 lakh farmers have been received out of which 7 lakh people have already benefitted from the waiver,” he said.

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