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Badal blasts measure for which Sukhbir took credit
WSN Bureau

CHANDIGARH: Initial reactions of the Akali Dal were limited to saying that the entire Chidambaram plan was a result of the Sukhbir Singh Badal's Insaaf Rally a week earlier but as better sense dawned, the reaction was given a better look and texture. On Monday, CM Parkash Singh Badal said underlined the inadequacy of the impact of the waiver on Punjab farmers and came back to his time tested line that Centre had again deceived Punjab farmers by partially waiving "loan defaults" instead of their loans. 

He called it a "huge fraud with the farmers" and said that a close perusal of the scheme revealed that loans had not been waived off across the board. Of course he forgot to mention that only hours earlier Sukhbir had taken credit for the step through written press releases.  

Badal's nephew and Punjab Finance Minister Manpreet Singh Badal, often projected by the media as the more suave of the Badals, also said: "The loans have not been waived off. It is a default waiver and not a loan waiver." 

That Punjab farmers have traditionally exhibited a higher compliance of their loan installments seems also to have gone against them. and many question if they are being penalised for making regular payments of loans. Ironically, it is the Badal government in Punjab that is largely viewed as trying to protect the arhtiyas' interests, but for the record, Badal said New Delhi should shoulder the liability of loans taken by farmers from the moneylenders. This debt is estimated variously at around Rs 12,000 crore but no accounts are available. Punjab farmers also stand to lose on account of the joint landholding system. These usually exceeded 5 acres, rendering most of the farmers ineligible. The total landholdings were 10 lakh and since these were mentioned as joint ownerships, they far exceeded the 5 acres' limit, even though individually many farmers own less than 5 acres. Thus, nearly 80 per cent farmers in 10 lakh holdings would be left out of the scheme. 

Thus, Punjab which contributes 50 per cent of the foodgrains in the national pool, will be getting about 2 per cent in return under the scheme. If journalists forgot to ask Badal why Sukhbir was taking credit or why his hand picked Chief Secretary was issuing statements that it will benefit 70 per cent of the farmers, please check the power of the advertisement budgets of the governments and ruling parties besides the fun that one can have at a five star even as an Insaaf Rally was being planned.

5 March 2008
 

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