We waive crop loans up to Rs 2 lakh within 100 days: Congress

The Congress is trying to counter the TRS government’s Rythu Bandhu scheme with a promise to provide Rs 2 lakh crop loan waiver to farmers at a single go. TPCC chief N. Uttam Kumar Reddy on Thursday announced that the Congress in the event of coming to power in the 2019 elections would waive crop loans up to Rs 2 lakh within 100 days. He said the crop loan arrears would be waived at one go.

Mr Reddy said the crop loan waiver to be given by the Congress would be different from that of the TRS government which waived Rs 17,500 crore loan arrears of over 35 lakh farmers as promised during 2014 elections. “The TRS government’s crop loan waiver was a flop and did not serve the purpose. It cleared arrears for four years in four instalments. With this, the banks passed on the interest burden to farmers due to delayed payment,” the TPCC chief said. “The arrears paid by government was adjusted towards payment of interest by banks. With this, many farmers still continue to face debt burden,” he said.

Mr Reddy stated that the Congress would offer a real crop loan waiver to farmers. “We will clear all the arrears at a single go. All the farmers will be made debt-free. They will be eligible to claim fresh crop loans from banks without paying a single rupee to banks on their previous loans. We will distribute debt-free certificates issued by banks to all farmers within 100 days of coming to power,” the TPCC president said.

Referring to Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao's statement that waiving crop loans at one go was impossible, Mr Reddy said, “When then Chief Minister Y.S. Rajashekhar Reddy promised free power to agriculture in the 2004 elections, everyone mocked at him. But he could successfully implement it after coming to power.” Mr Reddy said: “If there is a will, there is a way. We are already in touch with  economic experts over how Rs 2 lakh crop loans could be waived at a single go."