New Delhi: Advising Reserve Bank of India governor Urjit Patel to be more “humane” towards the farming community, ruling BJP’s Kisan Morcha chief Virendra Singh ‘Mast’ on Friday hailed the Uttar Pradesh government’s decision of loan waiver for the marginalised farmers.
The Bharatiya Janata Party leader also supported demands by the farmers of other states for a loan waiver but said it is not a “sashvat vikalp (permanent solution)” to the farmers’ problems. He, however, rejected the demand that the Central government should help the states, saying loan waiver is state government’s job.
Mr Singh, who is also an MP from UP’s Bhadoi parliamentary seat, reminded the RBI governor that recovery list of banks have “95-97 per cent” farmers who had taken the loan.
Mr Patel had described that the loan waiver schemes pose another risk for inflation, undermines an honest credit culture, and engender moral hazard. “Banks are unconcerned of human sensitivity, but it is a priority for the governments. If the RBI governor checks his books, he will find that almost 95 per cent of the loans taken by farmers are recovered,” said the party’s Kisan Morcha’s chief.
When asked about the demands for similar waivers in other states, the BJP leader supported the idea but said it’s is a temporary solution and there is a need to implement a series of measures to benefit the farmers in the longer run.
Mr Singh also called to set up an inter-ministerial committee to help farmers as various agriculture issues are currently looked into by different ministries.
Mr Singh, who had released the party’s ‘Kisan Sankalp Patra’ ahead of the Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections, said the state government will come out with more schemes like zero per cent loan and subsidised milch cattle for the farmers.
