No collaterals needed for education loans: Govt

NEW DELHI: The government was committed to ensure smooth flow of education loans for students and a total of 1,40,000 such loans were given till last December, Finance Minister P Chidambaram said on Tuesday.

Replying to supplementaries during Question Hour, the Finance Minister said a model educational loan scheme of Indian Banks Association had been adopted by banks.

In reply to a query, Chidambaram said there was no proposal to increase the interest rate on bank loans.

The educational loan is given for professional courses on the basis of signatures of the student and one of the parents, he said adding no collaterals were required for loans up to Rs 4 lakhs.

He said 1,07,000 educational loans were given during 2003-04.

Fiscal deficit: Government proposes to achieve fiscal correction mandated under the Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management Act, 2003, primarily through improvement in the tax-GDP ratio.

Containing unproductive expenditure is also another important element in fiscal consolidation, Chidambaram said in a written reply.

Sukhoi: A Sukhoi aircraft was just 400 feet from Air India Jetlines during the official rehearsal for the Republic Day fly past on January 23, Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel said.

Panchayati Raj: Measures are being taken to eliminate corruption in the Panchayati Raj Institutions, Minister for Panchayati Raj Mani Shankar Aiyar said.