TS govt to waive off farm loans upto Rs 1 lakh

Telangana state government on Friday proposed to waive all agriculture term loans up to Rs 1 lakh outstanding as on December 11, 2018. "Towards this, an amount of Rs 6,000 crore is proposed," Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, who also holds the finance portfolio, said while presenting the vote-on-account budget for 2019-20 in the legislative assembly. He noted that his party, the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS), had promised the loan waiver before the December 7, 2018 assembly elections.

The budget reflected the major electoral promises made by TRS, with thrust on welfare schemes. Under the investment support scheme 'Rythu Bandhu', the government is currently extending support of Rs 4,000 per acre per crop season amounting to Rs 8,000 per annum. "I propose to increase this support to Rs 5,000 per acre per crop. The total support in a year will be Rs 10,000 per acre," Rao said.

To redeem another election promise, the government proposed to introduce unemployment allowance of Rs 3,016 per month to the eligible. "The details of the scheme are being worked out," he added.

The 'Aasara' pensions, covering the aged, widows, single women, beedi workers, people suffering from filariasis, handloom workers and toddy-tappers, are proposed to be increased from Rs 1,000 per month to Rs 2,016. "For differently-abled persons, I propose to increase their monthly pension from Rs 1,500 to Rs 3,016," the Chief Minister said.