No changes in loan waiver scheme: Govt

The Rs 60,000 crore loan waiver package announced by the Union government in this year's Budget will be implemented in the form that it was announced, with no changes and no possibility of waiving newer loans. Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar announced this during question hour in the Lok Sabha.

"We are not in a position to take new responsibilities till the present commitments are implemented," Pawar said. Pawar's view is significant because AICC general secretary Rahul Gandhi had, in his speech during the debate on the Budget, called for a flexible landholding ceiling for eligibility for the waiver and different deadlines for various crop cycles.

"Crop cycles differ in various parts of the country and it would be better if the cut-off date coincided with the crop cycles," Gandhi had said.

Pawar today insisted that the government had no specific scheme to cover loans taken from moneylenders or deal with the issue of landholdings more than those covered by the package.

"Let us first implement the farm loan waiver scheme presented in the Budget and see the results," Pawar said noting that more than 81 per cent farmers fell in the small and medium categories which were covered under the package.

The NCP leader said the government would strive to implement the scheme announced by Finance Minister P Chidambaram in the 2008-09 Budget. The ambitious scheme is due to be implemented by June 30 this year.

Pawar rejected the Opposition's claim that farmers were being cheated by the loan waiver scheme. The minister also said wheat research institutes and agriculture universities were carrying out research to develop a black rust resistant variety of wheat.

Recently, the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) issued an advisory warning to wheat producing nations about the spread of the black rust disease causing virus.