Rahul Gandhi Writes To Finance Minister, Seeks Moratorium On Repayment Of Short-term Crop Loans

New Delhi, July 30 (TNA) Congress MP Rahul Gandhi has written to union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman drawing her attention to the "acute financial distress being faced by our farmers across the country due to the continuing pandemic".

He pointed out in the letter that in his parliamentary constituency Wayanad, which is home to a significant number of small and marginal farmers growing cash crops, they are faced with many problems. "As you are aware, large parts of Kerala were devastated by two consecutive years of flooding in 2018 and 2019. Just as the farmers were on their road to recovery, the Covid pandemic struck".

The former Congress president further said these chain of events had severely heightened agrarian distress and that currently, farmers were availing short term crop loans at a concessional rate under the interest subvention scheme. However, the Gandhi scion pointed out, factors including, multiple lockdowns, disruptions in the supply chain and limited market access have severely affected farm incomes.

"Mounting debt coupled with future economic uncertainty has affected the ability of our farmers to repay their loan on time" he wrote to the FM adding that he has himself been receiving representations requesting for a moratorium on repayment of short term crop loans from individuals and organizations in my constituency.

"Crores of farmers across India are similarly placed" he underlined further. In this backdrop, he requested Sitharaman for her intervention in extending the moratorium on repayment of short-term crop loans till December 31, 2021 and waive all penal interest.