More benefits for farmers under debt relief scheme

September 16th, 2009 JAMMU - Authorities here are considering declaring the Jammu region drought-hit as it has received 40 percent less rainfall this monsoon. "We are gathering the statistics and other facts to see if we can declare the region drought-hit.

August 18th, 2009 NEW DELHI - The government Tuesday ruled out any fresh debt waver scheme even though farmers have been severly hit by poor monsoon this year. "There is no such proposal," Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said when asked whether the government would write off farmers' loans.

July 20th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Former Karnataka chief minister and Lok Sabha member H.D. Kumaraswamy Monday urged the central government to "once for all waive the entire loan component of small and marginal farmers" to start lending process for them on a clean slate.

July 19th, 2009 NEW DELHI - US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton Sunday said farmers need financial security to prevent them committing suicide as has been happening in India, and stop them from drifting away from agriculture, like in the US. "Yeah, it (farmers' suicides) is a great concern.

July 6th, 2009 NEW DELHI - The union budget may not be a "please all" budget, but it is a fair effort by the government to achieve 9 percent growth while coping with the challenge of 6.8 percent fiscal deficit, says the research arm of Moody's. "Indias 2009-2010 fiscal budget may not please all, but is a fair effort by the government to address two important existing concerns," says Sharman Chan, economist with Moody's Economy.com.

July 6th, 2009 NEW DELHI - The government has extended the debt relief scheme for farmers from June 30 to the end of the year, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee announced Monday. "The time given to the farmers having more than two hectares of land to pay 75 percent of their overdues under Debt Waiver and Debt Relief Scheme has been extended from June 30 to Dec 31, 2009," a government spokesperson announced.

July 2nd, 2009 LUDHIANA - Authorities at the Bhakra Nangal dam have assured that they would release an extra 6,000 cusecs of water for irrigation to paddy farmers in Punjab and Haryana. The Bhakra Beas Management Board (BBMB), that manages the dam located in Himachal Pradesh, said that 28,000 cusecs of water would be released from the dam.

June 7th, 2009 LUCKNOW - The World Bank has given its nod to a whopping Rs.1,332 crore (Rs.13.32 billion) soft loan for reclamation of sodic land in Uttar Pradesh - a move that will help an estimated 250,000 farmers. Making the announcement at a press conference here Sunday, Uttar Pradesh Cabinet Secretary Shashank Shekhar Singh said, "The scheme would help reclaim a huge chunk of about 130,000 hectares of sodic land in the state." The scheme, an extension of two previous phases of a similar exercise undertaken in the state, will benefit an estimated 250,000 farmers, he said.

June 1st, 2009 RAIPUR - The Chhattisgarh government Monday announced that it will provide free electricity to farmers using irrigation pumps under five horse power capacity. The scheme, which will cost the state exchequer an estimated Rs.150 crore annually, will come into effect from Aug 15 this year, an official statement said.

May 29th, 2009 AHMEDABAD - Gujarat has prepared a Rs.3,000-crore plan to upgrade the infrastructure of its old industrial estates within the next three years, a minister said Friday. "The government would upgrade infrastructure of all the old industrial estates of Gujarat Industrial Development Corp (GIDC) under its 'critical infrastructure plan'," Minister for Energy and Petrochemicals Saurabh Patel said at a function in Moriya, about 25 km from here.

March 21st, 2009 LANJIGARH - Janak Sahu, a paddy farmer in Harekrushnapur village, used to practice single crop farming for around 140 days. The rest of the year he worked as a daily wage labourer, and his annual income never exceeded Rs.25,000.

March 17th, 2009 RAIPUR - Chhattisgarh's existing Rs.3 per kg rice scheme for 3.7 million families was to be converted into a Rs.2 per kg scheme from April 1 but the plans have been put on hold with the model code of conduct in place for Lok Sabha polls, officials said Tuesday. The Rs.3 per kg rice scheme was launched on April 1, 2007 and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government last month announced that it will reduce the price to mark two years of successful implementation of the programme.

February 15th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Claiming that the United Progressive Alliance government has given 'focussed attention' to farmers, Minister for External Affairs Pranab Mukherjee Monday said the plan outlay for the agriculture sector was hiked 300 percent between 2003-04 and 2008-09. Presenting the interim budget for 2009-10 in parliament, Mukherjee said the agriculture credit disbursement has also gone up to Rs.2.5 trillion (Rs.250,000 crore) last fiscal from Rs.870 billion in 2003-04.

January 16th, 2009 THIRUVANANTHAPURAM - The Kerala government Saturday fixed the state's annual plan for the next fiscal at Rs.8,650 crore (Rs.80.65 billion). Chief Minister V.S.

December 29th, 2008 NAGPUR - The Maharashtra government Tuesday announced a relief package worth Rs.6.2 billion (Rs.620 crore) to the crisis-ridden farmers in the state. Nearly four million farmers, who were left out by the central government's Rs.71-billion loan waiver package, are expected to benefit from this initiative.