Telangana announces loan waiver up to Rs 75,000

Hyderabad: Though the promise of waiver of farm loans up to Rs 50,000 made in the current financial year is yet to be fulfilled, the Telangana government has once again announced the waiver of loans up to Rs 75,000 taken by the farmers from the scheduled financial institutions.

Presenting the budget 2022-2023 proposals in the Assembly, Finance Minister T Harish Rao said that loans up to Rs 50,000 would be waived off by March-end. Further, during the next financial year, loans up to Rs 75,000 would be waived off, he said, adding that after the formation of the State, an amount of Rs 16,144 crore of outstanding loans of 35.32 lakh farmers were waived off. In the second round of loan waiver, the government has waived off loans of 5.12 lakh farmers. "Even though the Centre's attitude is against the farming community, the TS government is not compromising as far as the farmers interests are concerned. With the effort made by the government which has led to the development of the agriculture sector, there is a dramatic transformation in the rural areas. Migration for work has stopped. In fact, labour from other States are coming to Telangana to work in the farms," the Minister said. He further added that during 2013–14, the growth of agriculture and allied sectors in Telangana was only 4.0 per cent at constant prices. Due to the proactive measures taken by the Telangana government, the growth has increased to 29.0 per cent by 2019–20, he informed.

"With regard to agriculture development, the rural economy has become strong. To the State GDP, more than 20 per cent is now contributed by the primary sector. This is a clear indication of the change in Telangana rural areas. In the budget, an amount of Rs 24,254 crore is proposed for agriculture and allied sectors, he added.

The cotton production has increased significantly in the State. When the State was formed, the total amount of cotton produced was 18.45 lakh tonnes. Today, it has increased to 31.60 lakh tonnes. As the cotton produced in Telangana is of good quality, there is an excellent demand in the international market for the same, Harish claimed.

The government also accorded priority to palm oil production. During 2022-23, the target for cultivation of oil palm is 2.5 lakh acres. The outlay for the same is Rs 1,000 crore. Telangana is the only State in the country to encourage oil palm cultivation on such a large scale, he said, requesting the farmers of Telangana to utilise the scheme in a big way and take up the cultivation of oil palm.