Loan waiver comes as a boon to farmers
The Union Budget's proposal to waive agricultural loans will bring some relief for farmers of the State. The farmers, who benefited from the loan wavier scheme of the previous Janata Dal (Secular)-Bharatiya Janata Party government in the State, would again benefit from the Centre's loan waiver scheme. There are 60 lakh small and marginal farmers in the State, according to the Agriculture Department. The Union Budget proposal to waive farm loans will benefit those amongst them who have taken loans from scheduled commercial banks, regional rural banks (RRBs) and cooperatives in the State. Of the 75.8 lakh farmers in the State, 36.55 lakh are marginal farmers holding up to one hectare of land. There are 28.13 lakh small farmers who have one to two hectares of land in their possession. The marginal holdings account for 48.2 per cent of the total holdings while small holdings account for 26.60 per cent in the State. Union Finance Minister P. Chidambaram offered a debt relief package f Rs. 60,000 crore in the budget (2008-09) to four crore farmers in the country. Under the one-time settlement scheme that will benefit large farmers, the government will give a rebate of 25 per cent on payment of outstanding loans. There are 11.11 lakh big farmers in the State. All agricultural loans disbursed by scheduled commercial banks, regional rural banks and cooperative credit institutions up to 31 March 2007 and overdue as on 31 December 2007 will be covered under the scheme. The implementation of the debt waiver and debt relief scheme will be completed by June 30. Indebtedness Indebtedness was one of the major factors for farmers' suicide and the agrarian crisis in the State. As many as 61.6 per cent of farmer households are indebted in the State against the national average of 48.6 per cent. In Karnataka, 73.5 per cent of farmer households who owned two hectares of land or less are in debt, according to the National Sample Survey Organisation (2005). Extended The Union Budget has proposed to extend the weather-based crop insurance scheme for the coming kharif season in the State.