Crop Loan Waiver: Ration Card, PM Kisan Norms may Play Spoilsport
Hyderabad: The state government's decision to link the crop loan waiver with ration cards and certain provisions of the PM-Kisan scheme could deny this benefit to many farmers, as no new ration cards have been issued in Telangana since 2015.
The previous BRS government last issued ration cards in 2015. Over the past nine years, no new ration cards have been issued, and the previous BRS government cancelled nearly 20 lakh ration cards, labelling them as 'bogus' after field inquiries. In 2021, the BRS government announced the issuance of 3 lakh new ration cards, but it did not materialise. The newly-formed Congress government, which came to power seven months ago in December 2023, is also yet to issue new ration cards.
Under the PM-Kisan norms, which are applied for the crop loan waiver, individuals paying income tax are ineligible for benefits. Additionally, all serving or retired officers and employees of Central/State Government Ministries, offices, departments, Central or State PSEs, attached offices, autonomous institutions under government, and regular employees of local bodies, all superannuated/retired pensioners with a monthly pension of Rs 10,000 or more, and professionals like doctors, engineers, lawyers, chartered accountants, and architects registered with professional bodies and actively practising are not eligible.
Previous crop loan waiver schemes implemented by earlier governments never linked ration cards or PM-Kisan norms to extend the benefit. This ration card requirement has come as a shock to farmers who fear losing the benefit simply because they lack a ration card.
The previous BRS government implemented crop loan waiver schemes twice, in 2014 and 2018, waiving crop loans of up to Rs 1 lakh for each farmer.
During its first term in office from 2014 to 2018, the BRS government waived crop loans for 35.31 lakh farmers amounting to Rs 16,144 crore without any restrictions. In its second term from 2018 to 2023, the BRS government waived crop loans for 22.98 lakh farmers amounting to Rs 13,000 crore, again without any restrictions.
Even when the previous Congress government, headed by then CM YS Rajashekar Reddy, implemented the crop loan waiver scheme in 2008 in combined Andhra Pradesh as part of the UPA-1 government’s nationwide announcement, there were no restrictions.
Considering previous crop loan waivers, farmers in Telangana were hopeful that the Revanth Reddy government would also implement a crop loan waiver scheme without any restrictions.
However, the guidelines issued on Monday stating that ration cards and PM-Kisan norms will be considered to determine eligibility have come as a shock to lakhs of farmers, who could risk losing the crop loan waiver.
