No proposal to waive loans of landless

The government today said there was no proposal to waive loans of the landless, but schemes are in place to help them get out of the clutches of money-lenders.

Responding to a supplementary during Question Hour in the Rajya Sabha, Minister of State for Finance Pawan Kumar Bansal said there was no proposal to waive loans of the landless. But there are several schemes for them, he added.

Indian Banks Association have asked its members to provide loans to the landless so that they can pay back the money-lenders, the Minister said.

Bansal also said the government has been receiving demand for raising the 5-acre limit for farmers' debt waiver scheme. But somewhere there would have to be a cut-off line, he added.

Sivanand Tiwari (JD-U) said majority of the farmers in Vidarbha region, which has been granted special package after farmer suicides, have not availed the benefits of debt waiver.

Only 16,000 farmers in Vidarbha have less than five acres of land while there are 40,000 growers in the region, he said.

Bansal said the Centre has waived loans to the tune of Rs 8,951 crore benefiting 42.48 lakh farmers in Maharashtra. There are 3.68 crore farmers across the country who have benefitted from the debt waiver scheme announced last year, he added.