Centre rules out farm loan waivers to states

New Delhi: Finance Minister Arun Jaitley today ruled out farm loan waivers by the Centre but said states can utilise their own resources in this regard.

He clarified that the Centre will not adopt a selective approach by helping one state and not the others.

“This issue (loan waiver) has cropped up in several states. The Centre has its policies for agriculture sector under which we provide interest subvention and other support.

We will continue to give all that.

“If a state has its own resources and want to go ahead in that direction, it will have to find its resources. The situation where the Centre will help one state and not the others will not arise,” Jaitley said in the Rajya Sabha.

Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh had said that the BJP government in Uttar Pradesh will waive off loans of small and marginal farmers as has been promised in party’s state election manifesto in the recent assembly polls.

The Congress had demanded that the government announce a loan waiver for farmers across the country as was done by the UPA in 2006 and not just for Uttar Pradesh where the BJP has returned to power with a major mandate.