PAWAR MEETS PM ON FARM CRISIS
NEWDELHI: There should be a “complete and unconditional” waiver of loans for farmers who have been hit by unseasonal rainfall in Maharashtra, Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar told Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday in a memorandum he handed over during a oneon-one meeting which came with a significant political sub-text given the political situation in Maharashtra.
Pawar said the Maharashtra governor (the state is under President’s Rule) announced an assistance of ~8,000 per hectare for agricultural crops and ~18,000 per hectare for horticultural crops — amounts that aren’t adequate for the losses.
NEW DELHI: There should be a “complete and unconditional” waiver of loans for farmers who have been hit by unseasonal rainfall in Maharashtra , Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar told Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday in a memorandum he handed over during a one-on-one meeting which came with a significant political sub-text given the political situation in Maharashtra.
Pawar said the Maharashtra governor (the state is under President’s rule) announced an assistance of ~8000 per hectare for agricultural crops and ~18000 per hectare for horticultural crops -amounts too inadequate to compensate for losses.
Maharashtra has been under the President’s rule since November 12 after no party could form the government in the state. The single-largest party, the BJP decided to sit out rather than meet a demand from its pre-poll ally the Shiv Sena for rotational chief ministership. The NCP, Shiv Sena, and the Congress are now in the midst of talks to form a government.
In his three-page memorandum, which he subsequently released, Pawar told the PM that during his stint as agriculture minister, drought-affected farmers received ~30,000 per hectare in 2012 and that a similar amount should be given now.
Pawar also demanded that the PM call a meeting with insurance companies and ask them to deal promptly with claims, and also direct the finance minister to address the credit crisis.
Pawar said crops like soyabean, paddy, finger millet, corns, bajra and vegetables such as tomato and onion were at the harvesting stage in Nashik district but that unseasonal rains completely ruined them.
Nashik has been among the districts that have borne the brunt of the ongoing agrarian crisis -- even before the rain. Pawar pointed that 44 farmers from Nashik have committed suicide due to crisis in past 10 months.