MANGALURU: Was the coalition government’s decision right in ignoring former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah’s flagship scheme “Raitha Belaku Yojana” for dryland farmers in favour of farm-loan waiver scheme in the budget presented on Thursday?
Yes, say, experts, who also believe that Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy’s decision prioritising loan waiver over Raitha Belaku will have wider ramifications resulting in increased agricultural productivity.
Special Officer in Raichur University Prof Muzaffar Assadi, welcoming the decision to scrap bad loans of farmers, said a farmer should be freed of the loan burden once for all and allowed to start life afresh. He recollected that until 1998, budgets did not have a comprehensive agricultural policy. But there has been a comprehensive industrial policy since 1950. Thus scrapping bad loans will reduce suicides by farmers and increase agricultural productivity.
Karnataka Rajya Raitha Sangha also had maintained that Raitha Belaku programme would help a few farmers but farm loan waiver scheme would bring relief to lakhs of farmers. “Farmers across the state are very happy,” said KPCC’s Kissan and Keth Mazdur Cell Chairman Sachin Meega.
“(But) both Raitha Belaku and loan waiver will not solve farmer issues,’’ asserts Sachin, who had visited homes of 876 farmers who took the decision of ending lives. “We need a farmer-friendly crop insurance scheme and present insurance scheme is unscientific,’’ he adds.
Torchlight procession
Nearly 200 members of KPCC’s Kissan and Keth Mazdur Cell took out a torch-light procession at Freedom Park here on Thursday in memory of thousands of farmers who had committed suicide.