Former Chief Minister Ajit Jogi on Wednesday said in the Chhattisgarh Assembly that there is a contradiction between content in Congress party's poll manifesto, Governor's address and the supplementary budget.
The Congress party's poll manifesto which the AICC President Rahul Gandhi repeated in several public meetings had assured that within 10 days the loans of farmers will be waived off, he said , adding the Chief Minister issued a notification within four days and in the clause 4 of the notification it is now mentioned that the loan will not be waived for four category of farmers.
On one side, it was said that loan of all farmers will be waived but the notification says loan of four category of farmers will not be waived. This includes short-term loans, loans disbursed by nationalised banks, and taking loan by offering collateral , Jogi said.
If the loan is not exempted on the four points mentioned , there is no point discussing the issue, he said.
Seventy two per cent of the loan taken by farmers is from private money lenders and only 28 per cent from banking and co-operative system . The figures show 858 farmers committed suicide while in three years, 2000 to 3000 farmers committed suicide, Jogi said.
Most of the farmers who committed suicide had taken short term loans.The others who bought a tractor and the marginal farmer who borrowed money from private money lender to farm and unable to pay back committed suicide, he said.
Much noise is being made about loan waivers but banks are now refusing further loans to farmers in the fear that it would add to their Non Performing Assets, Jogi said.
The loan waiver is an aspect which is done only half will have farmers never going out of debt. The other condition is that a farmer should earn sufficient from his farming in the second year so that he would need no further loans, he said.
Jogi said that there should be a separate budget for the farmers in which the government could need Rs 20,000 crore for loan waivers.