Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Saturday opposed any move by the Centre to impose tax on agricultural income.
Replying to reporters’ queries on the reported statement of a member of Niti Aayog, the Centre’s policy think-tank, favouring tax on agricultural income, Mr. Siddaramaiah said income was uncertain in agriculture. “There is no income if one takes the work done by the members in the farmers’ families. Women and children in a farmers’ family also work in the fields. If all that work is taken into account, there will be no income for farmers”, he said.
As Finance Minister, Mr. Siddaramaiah said he had removed the income tax on coffee growers. “There used to be income tax on planters till I removed it”, he claimed.
‘Duplicity’
Referring to BJP leader B.S. Yeddyurappa’s demand for loan waiver, Mr. Siddaramaiah said there was duplicity in the BJP’s stand on the issue. He said the RBI is not in favour of loan waiver, but the Centre has “paid for” the loan waiver in Uttar Pradesh. The Centre has provided financial assistance to Uttar Pradesh under different heads to pay for the loan waiver, Mr Siddaramaiah claimed.
Mr Siddaramaiah also sought to recall the reply of Mr. Yeddyurappa, as Chief Minister, to a demand for loan waiver by Congress member V.S. Ugrappa in the Legislative Council. “He had made a statement in the Legislative Council that he does not have a note printing machine to waive agricultural loans. He justified his earlier demand for loan waiver as he was in the Opposition and not in power”, Mr Siddaramaiah disclosed.
Wrong timing
He also found fault with Mr. Yeddyurappa for embarking on a tour to study the drought situation only after the State started receiving rains. “Instead of going on a tour to study drought in March and April, he is going now”, Mr Siddaramaiah said and added that Mr. Yeddyurappa should have, instead, gone to New Delhi to ask the Centre to waive the agricultural loans extended by nationalised banks and help secure Karnataka the pending compensation for drought relief.
During last year’s monsoon, a total of 139 taluks were declared drought hit and the State suffered a crop loss of around Rs. 18,000 crore. As per the National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF) norms, Karnataka was entitled for Rs. 4,702 crore, but the Centre sanctioned only Rs. 1,782 crore and approved for release only Rs. 1,685 crore. “We have already disbursed Rs. 1,500 crore out of this and the remainder will be given away to the farmers by the end of this month”, he said.
Subsequently, during north-east monsoon, 160 out of the 176 taluks in the State were declared as drought-hit. “Though Karnataka is entitled to Rs. 3,310 crore as per the NDRF norms, the Centre has not released even one rupee so far”, Mr Siddaramaiah said.
He asked State’s BJP MPs whether they have ever raised the issue of farmers’ sufferings in Parliament and urged the Centre to waive agricultural loans. Even when he led a delegation from the State to the Centre, the BJP leaders never uttered a word about the need for Centre to waive farm loans, he claimed.
