Farmers to get co-op. loans for children's marriage, education

By Our Special Correspondent

BANGALORE, NOV. 13. The State Government has decided to extend loans, through cooperative institutions, to farmers to conduct the marriages, as well as for the education, of their children.

The Minister for Cooperation, Mr. D.K. Shivakumar, told presspersons here on Tuesday that the Government considered it a social obligation to help farmers meet their family commitments. The two new cooperative loan schemes would prevent small and marginal farmers from going in for high-interest loans from money-lenders. Nearly 5.60-lakh farmers who had obtained the cooperative credit cards would be eligible for these loans.

The State Government had also decided to extend the deadline for the repayment of long-pending farm loans till December 31. Earlier, the Government had given a one-month period for the repayment of all farm loans without penal interest. This was extended by one month, and has now been extended by a further two months.

He said the long-pending farm loans due to the cooperative institutions was Rs. 1,031 crore, and the waiver of penal interest involved a concession of Rs. 250 crore to the farmers. So far, nearly 7,500 farmers had availed themselves of the scheme and had paid up around Rs. 12 crore to the primary land development banks. The response was poor owing to the prevailing conditions in the agricultural sector and, hence, the Government decided to further extend the deadline.

The minister said that as part of the 48th All-India Cooperative Week commencing from Wednesday, the State Government would give a thrust to strengthening the cooperative institutions in the State which were, by and large, doing well. There was a relatively small percentage of cooperative societies and banks which were in a bad shape, and the State Government would attempt to get them to improve their performance.

Mr. Shivakumar said the focus of attention of the cooperative financial institutions in the current year was the agricultural sector. Of the target of Rs. 1,610 crore, the cooperative bodies had already covered 87 per cent and should achieve the target in three months.

Asked about the proposed farmers' rally to be held in Channapatna in Bangalore Rural District on November 19, Mr. Shivakumar, who represents Sathanur Assembly constituency (part of Channapatna taluk falls within the constituency) said the rally would be held, and he would do his best to ensure that it was well organised.

Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Section  : Southern States
Previous : Two receive bullet injuries in Cong.-BJP clash
Next     : Four girls killed in mishap