Farmers organisations in the delta region have appealed to Chief Minister Jayalalithaa to extend the benefit of crop loan waiver to all farmers without restricting it to small and marginal farmers.
While welcoming the Government Order on loan waiver for small and marginal farmers, they however, said that there should be no discrimination among farmers based on land holding.
“It is laudable that the waiver of the crop loans was among the first decisions taken by the Chief Minister on returning to power for a consecutive term. However, we are disappointed that the Chief Minister has not considered the demand of farmers organisations to write off loans of all farmers, without restricting it to small and marginal farmers,” said P.R.Pandian, president, Tamil Nadu Federation of All Farmers’ Associations.
The decision to restrict the waiver to small and marginal farmers would not benefit the farming community at large. “All farmers are struggling with debts. The impact of natural vagaries is the same on all farmers,” he said.
The general secretary of the Federation of Farmers Associations of Delta District Arupathi Kalyanam also questioned the “discrimination.”
“When the government has decided to waive the cooperative crop loans why impose restrictions. There are farmers who have produced chitta adangal copies for eight acres but got loans only for three acres. Such farmers will not get the benefit of the waiver now,” he said. Besides, the differentiation is not justified as the land holding of individual farmers is already restricted, he observed.
Terming the restriction unjustified, Puliyur A.Nagarajan, farmers’ wing of the Tamil Maanila Congress, said some landless and small farmers, who had leased lands, would have produced records for five to eight acres to raise loans and they would not be eligible to get the benefit. Farmers’ organisations have unanimously been pleading for the waiver of loans of all farmers, he pointed out and urged the Chief Minister to reconsider the decision.
The farmers representatives also wanted the State government to take steps to waive agricultural loans sanctioned by nationalised banks, which they point out, have been initiating distraint proceedings against defaulters. “The State government should take up the demand with the Centre or come forward on its own to write off the loans,” Mr.Pandian said.
