Swaraj Abhiyan leader, Yogendra Yadav, urged the Union and the State governments to restructure farmers’ loans at nationalised banks and cooperative societies for saving farmers in distress.
He was speaking to presspersons at Kadagamdoddi village, 12 kms from Raichur, on Friday night after visiting drought-hit villages in the district as part of Samvedana Yatra.
He held that mere waiving farm loans of a couple of years would not help farmers much, but restructuring the loans so as to benefit the farmers would do.
“If it was possible for successive governments to restructure huge amount of corporate loans for safeguarding the interests of the business community, why can’t it be possible to do the same for saving the farmers in distress?” he questioned.
Mr. Yadav demanded that the Union government declare drought-hit areas across the country and take up relief and rehabilitation work to save the farmers.
He said that drought was the reality even as per the government yard-stick.
“As per the yardstick of the Union government, an area can be declared drought-hit if there is 10 per cent deficit rain and 20 per cent affected area. Drought is a reality in most parts of the country as per this yardstick. The Union government should immediately declare these areas drought-hit and take up relief work,” he said.
He also urged the Union government to waive farmers’ loans at nationalised banks.
Mr. Yadav also urged the State government to take some immediate measures to save farmers in the State. “The entire crop-loss compensation system needs to undergo a fundamental transformation,” he said.