Karnataka waives interest on crop loans, announces relief package | Zee News
Last Updated: Saturday, October 10, 2015 - 14:27
Haveri: Providing succour to distressed farmers, the
Karnataka government Saturday announced waiver of interest and penal interest on crop loans from cooperative banks for the current fiscal and hike in compensation from Rs 2 lakh to Rs 5 lakh to families of farmers who had committed suicide.
The government would also increase monthly widow pension from Rs 500 to Rs 2,000 and bear educational expenses of children up to post-graduation level in the families of farmers who had committed suicide, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said.
Siddaramaiah made the announcement at a rally at Gudugur in Haveri district in north Karnataka in the presence of Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi, who is on a two-day visit to the state which has seen a sudden jump in suicides with 541 farmers taking away their lives in the last six months.
Rahul, who visited distress hit Mandya district yesterday, had hinted at a relief package. He undertook a padayatra and interacted with farmers in Haveri district, besides addressing the rally today.
Siddaramaiah said the compensation in case of suicides would also be applicable to landless labourers.
Cooperative banks had also been asked to reschedule loans and defer recovery of instalments for a year, he said.
Siddaramaiah said the state government would also work towards getting higher Minimum Support Price, a subject that fell within the Centre's purview, for paddy, jowar and ragi.
The government, he said, had also ordered a crackdown on moneylenders who were fleecing the farmers and more than 1,300 cases had been booked against them with 568 arrested. "We will work for waiver of loans borrowed from money lenders also," he said.
Siddaramaiah appealed to the farmers not to commit suicide, saying "it is not the solution" and the government was with them in their crisis. The state has been facing severest drought for the past 10 years, suffering a crop loss of Rs 16,000 crore, he said.
PTI
‘Farm sector sure to gain from space tech’ - The Hindu
Updated: October 10, 2015 01:58 IST
Indian Space Research Organisation Chairman A.S. Kiran Kumar on Friday indicated that the country’s agriculture sector would increasingly reap the benefits of space technology in the coming years through various upcoming projects, including the Indo-US NISAR (NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar) satellite.
Earth observation satellite NISAR is slated to be launched in 2020-21.
Inaugurating the 50th Foundation Day celebrations of the University of Agricultural Sciences-Bengaluru here, Mr. Kiran Kumar said NISAR would provide information about a place more frequently than older satellites orbiting the Earth at present. For instance, if the present satellites take 23 to 25 days to re-visit a particular spot and give the next round of information about it, NISAR would provide the repeat information in two to five days.
Such a higher frequency of getting periodical information would benefit many sectors apart from farming, he noted.
Among the objectives of NISAR are estimation of soil moisture, agriculture and forest biomass and estimation of glaciers, snow and possibility of landslides, he said.
Referring to the ongoing research into space technology that could help agriculture, he said “hyper spectral” studies were being undertaken to identify yellow rust disease in wheat crop through remote sensing.
Similarly, research was going on related to the use of microwave remote sensing. Mr. Kiran Kumar felt that the ongoing research regarding application of space technology for agricultural development was not enough. He called upon agricultural scientists to join hands with ISRO.
Adopt scientific techniques, farmers told - The Hindu
K.M. Udupa, Managing Trustee of Bharatiya Vikas Trust, said on Friday that farmers should use scientific farming techniques to increase their produce.
He was speaking at the inaugural function of the one-day agricultural awareness programme and “Ksehtrotsava” for farmers, organized by the Zonal Agricultural and Horticultural Research Station (ZAHRS) at Brahmavar in Udupi district.
Only 25 per cent of farmers in the country were following scientific farmers. The agricultural sector had seen its heyday during the Green Revolution in the 1960s, which had made the country self sufficient in foodgrain production. But the scenario was changing, he said.
The Union and State governments should provide minimum support price to all agricultural produce. This would help the farmers, Mr. Udupa said.
Presiding over the inaugural function, C. Vasudevappa, Vice Chancellor of University of Agricultural and Horticultural Sciences (UAHS), Shivamogga, said it was essential to give farmers confidence so that they did not commit suicide.
The government provided financial incentives to industry but hesitated to provide the same to agriculture. Though the university had started a Diploma in Agriculture at ZAHRS, there were very few local students. “We require at least 60 per cent of local students to start an agricultural college here,” he said.
Mallika Balakrishna, Arun Shetty, Gopi K. Naik, Zilla Panchayat members, Saraswati Naik, President of Chantar Gram Panchayat, Nityananda B.R., President of Varamabally Gram Panchayat, and others were present. An exhibition of various varieties of paddy, cashew, and agriculture equipment, was held at the venue.
Two farmers commit suicide in Prakasam - The Hindu
Due to repeated crop failures in the last four years the situation turned worse for farmer Ranga Reddy, Racherla Sub-Inspector K. Madhava Rao said.
Saddled with mounting debts, two tenant farmers have committed suicide by consuming pesticide in drought-prone Prakasam District of Andhra Pradesh. While a 45-year-old tobacco grower, V. Ramana Reddy took the extreme step at Inamanamellur village near Madipadu on Friday night, a 42-year-old Chilli grower killed himself at Akaveedu, near Racherla in the district in the wee hours of Saturday.
Unable to get back even the cost of production with auctions reaching the fag-end, the tobacco grower who had sown in 14 acres taken on lease, was clueless on clearing his debts to the tune of Rs. 20 lakh, besides meeting educational expenses of his 17-year-old son studying in a junior college and his 19-year-old daughter studying in B.Tech, Madipadu Sub-inspector M. Devakumar said.
Debts mounted to Rs.4 lakh for the second farmer, S. Ranga Reddy from Akaveedu, near Racherla in Western Prakasam in the wake of repeated crop failures in the last four years, Racherla Sub-Inspector K. Madhava Rao said. Soon after harvest, the ryot ended his life unable to reconcile with poor crop output.
Giddalur Circle Inspector Md. Firoz said that the farmer, who owned two acres of land, had taken on lease five more acres. As her father did not return home in the morning, the farmer's daughter went to the fields and was shocked to find him dead, the CI said.
The farmer had raised a variety of crops like chillis, Sorghum, Pearl millet and red gram to spread the risk. He could not save any of the crops as his borewell dried up due to present dry spell.
The farmer had first suggested to his wife that they both enter into a suicide pact. She refused to toe his line, not to leave in the lurch their daughter studying in 10th Standard and son studying in the sixth standard in Racherla Model School, the SI said.
Ganga Kalyan scheme comes a cropper in Karnataka
The State government has framed several laws to penalise officials who fail to utilise funds meant for Ganga Kalyan, a scheme to provide irrigation facilities to farmers, especially SCs and STs.
It is implemented through Dr B R Ambedkar Development Corporation and Maharshi Valmiki Development Corporation. But the officials concerned have totally failed to execute the scheme during the 2013-14 and 2014-15 financial years.
A total of 22,292 borewells should have been sunk in the State during the two financial years to help farmers get water for cultivation. But so far, only 2,964 borewells have been sunk. The scheme has not achieved even 14 per cent progress.
The government had set 14,765 tubewells as target for Dr B R Ambedkar Development Corporation. However, the corporation was able to sink only 1,563 borewells (967 in 2013-14 and 596 in 2014-15). The Maharshi Valmiki Development Corporation should have sunk 7,527 borewells. But, the corporation dug just 1,563 borewells.
The success of the Ambedkar Development Corporation in implementing the scheme in 10 districts is total zero. The corporation has not sunk even a single borewell in Bengaluru Urban, Bengaluru Rural, Kodagu, Chitradurga, Chikkaballapur, Kolar, Davangere, Mandya, Udupi and Uttara Kannada districts in the previous financial year.
Even the Maharshi Valmiki Development Corporation’s achievement is no different.Its achievement is literally zero in Bengaluru Urban, Bengaluru Rural, Ramanagar, Davangere, Yadgir, Mandya, and Shivamogga districts during 2013-14. It has not sunk even a single borewell during 2014-15 in Bagalkot, Ballari, Bidar, Vijayapura, Chamarajanagar, Chikkamagaluru, Chitradurga, Gadag, Kalaburagi, Hassan, Haveri, Kodagu, Kolar, Chikkaballapur, Mysuru, Tumakuru and Uttara Kannada districts.
“The government has failed to give justice to dalit farmers. The process of identifying beneficiaries under the scheme during the current financial year has not yet started. The apathetic attitude of the officials towards farmers has continued.
The Governor has to intervene in the matter and take severe action against officials who have failed to implement the scheme that would help dalit farmers in distress due to severe drought and debt,” said Nagaraj Hongal, general secretary of Jana Jagruthi Vedike.
Admitting the failure in achieving the target, Mallajamma, chairperson of the Dr B R Ambedkar Development Corporation, said that the progress of the scheme had not been encouraging since 2010-11. She said, notices had been served on officials concerned to achieve the target by January 31, 2015. Action would be initiated against officials, if they fail to do so in future.
“Ganga Kalyan is one of the major schemes of the government to empower farmers from SC/ST communities. We have given top priority for implementing it effectively. The government is contemplating to deposit the money directly to the bank accounts of the beneficiaries to bring transparency in the implementation of the scheme,” she said.
