Centre mulls new scheme for loan paying farmers: Pawar

BHUBANESWAR: Hailing the decision of waiving farmers' loans to the tune of Rs 70,000 crore, Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar on Sunday said the Centre will come out with a new scheme to help the "honest" farmers who pay back their loans regularly.

"We will take steps through a new scheme to reward the farmers who regularly pay back their loans," Pawar said while addressing NCP's state convention here.

Though a large number of farmers benefited from the loan waiving scheme, some poor farmers paid back their loans despite financial difficulties in order to avail loan again, he pointed out.

"The poor farmers who could not get benefit from the loan waiver scheme should not feel cheated. The Centre will do something for them," he said, adding many farmers honestly paid back their dues in time.

Loan waiving scheme had saved many farmers from committing suicide, he said and asked farmers of Orissa, West Bengal, Chhatisgarh, Bihar, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Kerala to stop producing parboil paddy.

While speaking on the disstress sale of paddy, Pawar said production of parboil paddy was one of the reasons why paddy was not procured from Orissa and other states.