PIL against loan waivers in election manifestos filed in SC
- The petition in the apex court will come up for hearing on Monday before Justice S. A Bopde
- It comes in the backdrop of the ongoing 17th Lok Sabha elections wherein farm distress is one of the major issues confronting the Narendra Modi government
A public interest litigation (PIL) has been filed by advocate Reena N. Singh in the Supreme Court seeking restraint on loan waiver schemes announced by political parties in their election manifestos.
The petition in the apex court will come up for hearing on Monday before Justice S.A. Bopde. It comes against the backdrop of the ongoing Lok Sabha elections, in which farm distress is one of the major issues confronting the government. The BJP has also joined issue with Congress president Rahul Gandhi on his promised nationwide farm loan waiver if the Congress is voted to power. The promise of a loan waiver helped the Congress defeat the BJP in state elections in Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh in December.
The NDA government has launched an income transfer scheme for small and marginal farmers called the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi, or PM-Kisan. Small and marginal farmers who own less than 5 acres of land will receive three installments of ₹2,000 each every year.
The petition has been filed against 41 respondents, including the chief secretaries of states and union territories. The other respondents include the union ministries of finance and agriculture, the Reserve Bank of India and the Election Commission.
The 'farm distress' issue has assumed importance given that 342 seats of the 542 parliamentary constituencies in India are rural (another 144 are semi-urban), according to numbers based on Census 2011 classification.
The petitioner stated that the waiver of farm loans “destroys credit culture”. Singh argued in the petition that people are trapped in the hope of getting a waiver while people who pay back loans feel cheated. Singh said in her PIL that political parties actually need to draw up efficient policies to mitigate the problems of farmers.
Soon after Prime Minister Narendra Modi assumed power in May 2014, large swathes of India faced a drought which lasted for two years. This was followed by three successive years of normal monsoon (2016-2018), leading to a record harvest of grain and horticulture crops, but this resulted in a sharp plunge in crop prices.
"Immediately after forming the governments in Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, as promised, the three Congress governments waived loans of farmers. The Congress promises to waive outstanding farm loans in other states as well," the Congress promised in its manifesto.
The petition seeks a complete ban on political parties from advertising in their election manifesto any monetary or loan waiver scheme. It has requested that the Union and the state governments not be permitted to reduce or waive loans.
"We will provide special respite to farmers and farm workers, not just through “Karz Maafi” or a loan waiver but by setting farmers on the path to “Karz Mukti,” or Freedom from Indebtedness," the Congress manifesto promised.
The banking sector’s total outstanding advances account for ₹4.73 trillion, according to the second volume of the Economic Survey 2016-17 issued in August.
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Business NewsElections 2019Lok Sabha Elections 2019PIL against loan waivers in election manifestos filed in SC
First Published:19 Apr 2019, 06:30 PM IST
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