Yeddyurappa to soon waive off farmers' crop loans

Bengaluru, May 17 Within hours of taking oath, Karnataka Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa on Thursday said he will soon waive off crop loans of farmers across the state in line with BJP election pledge.

"I had promised the farmers that I would waive off crop loans up to Rs 1 lakh soon after I become the Chief Minister. I have already conveyed to the Chief Secretary (K. Ratna Prabha) to give me the details and we will announce the waiver within two days," Yeddyurappa told the media here.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) manifesto for the Assembly election promised to waive off all farmers' loans up to Rs 1 lakh from nationalised and cooperative banks if the party formed a government.

The party said it will support about 20 lakh small and marginal dry land farmers in the state through a direct income support of Rs 10,000 and ensure that farmers receive 1.5 times the cost of production as Minimum Support Price (MSP).

The manifesto also promised to set aside Rs 5,000 crore "Raitha Bandhu Market Intervention Fund" to support farmers during price fluctuations and that it will introduce a "Raitha Bandhu" department under the Chief Minister's Office to monitor the farmers' schemes.

One thousand farmers from the state will also be allowed each year to travel to countries like Israel and China to study the best practices in agriculture under the "Chief Minister's Fellowship for Agriculture", the party had said prior to the election.