india

Updated: Nov 21, 2019 02:10 IST

There should be a “complete and unconditional” waiver of loans for farmers who have been hit by unseasonal rainfall in Maharashtra , Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar told Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday in a memorandum he handed over during a one-on-one meeting which came with a significant political sub-text given the political situation in Maharashtra.

Pawar said the Maharashtra governor (the state is under President’s rule) announced an assistance of Rs 8000 per hectare for agricultural crops and Rs 18000 per hectare for horticultural crops -- amounts too inadequate to compensate for losses.

Maharashtra has been under the President’s rule since November 12 after no party could form the government in the state. The single-largest party, the BJP decided to sit out rather than meet a demand from its pre-poll ally the Shiv Sena for rotational chief ministership. The NCP, Shiv Sena, and the Congress are now in the midst of talks to form a government.

In his three-page memorandum, which he subsequently released, Pawar told the PM that during his stint as agriculture minister, drought-affected farmers received Rs 30,000 per hectare in 2012 and that a similar amount should be given now.

Pawar also demanded that the prime minister call a meeting with insurance companies and ask them to deal promptly with claims, and also direct the finance minister to address the credit crisis faced by farmers.

Pawar said crops like soyabean, paddy, finger millet, corns, bajra and vegetables such as tomato and onion were at the harvesting stage in Nashik district but that incessant and unseasonal rains completely ruined them.

Nashik has been among the districts that have borne the brunt of the ongoing agrarian crisis -- even before the rain. pawar pointed out that 44 farmers from Nashik have committed suicide in the face of the crisis in the past 10 months.

Pawar remained tight-lipped about whether government formation was discussed in his 50-minute long meeting with the Prime Minister. Two days ago, Modi praised the conduct of NCP MPs saying they never enter the well of the house even while protesting.

Pawar also apprised Modi about a conference, ‘Sustainability -- Innovation and Diversification in Sugar and Allied Industry’ to be organised by the Vasantdada Sugar Institute (VSI) from January 31 to February 2, 2020. Modi had inaugurated an international conference organised by the VSI in Pune in 2016.

The Shiv Sena refused to attached any political meaning to the meeting. “If some leader meets Prime Minister then it doesn’t mean that something is cooking. The Prime Minister is for the entire nation, farmers are facing problems in Maharashtra. Sharad Pawar and Uddhav Thackeray always think about farmers,” said Sanjay Raut of the Shiv Sena.