Issue of loan waiver for farmers of Punjab and Maharashtra raised in Lok Sabha
Delhi: The demand for loan waiver of farmers of Maharashtra and Punjab was raised in the Lok Sabha today. During the Zero Hour in the House, Supriya Sule of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and Jasbir Singh Gill of the Congress raised the issue of the “pathetic condition” of farmers in Maharashtra and Punjab respectively and demanded a loan waiver from the Centre.
Sule said that due to climate change, there has been less rainfall in some places, more rainfall in many places, hailstorm in some places and drought in some places.
Gill, a Congress member, raised the issue of banks charging huge interest on loans from farmers. The interest rate on loans given to farmers for tractors or other agricultural implements is much higher than the rates of commercial loans or housing or vehicle loans for industrialists.
The rate of agricultural credit is up to 15 per cent and the interest rate on tractors or farm implements is up to 22 per cent. He demanded the Centre to restructure the interest rates of banks as farmers commit suicide if they fail to repay their loans. He also demanded the Centre to waive off the loans of Punjab’s farmers.