Lashing out at the opposition for twisting the issue, Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh intervened in the House on Thursday to make it clear that the Rs. 1500 crore proposed by the Finance Minister in this regard was an initial sum provided in the budget to leverage more money to provide for the debt waiver scheme in installments.The Chief Minister was clarifying on the issues raised by the opposition as also a section of the media with regard to the government’s farm debt waiver decision.Though a total sum of about Rs.9500 crore (subject to final reconciliation of accounts) will be required to fully implement the debt waiver scheme, which would take about 4-5 years to settle with the banks, the farmers would be free from their debt immediately on notification of the scheme which is expected to take another 6- 8 weeks, the Chief Minister declared unequivocally.“We propose to take over the debt of the farmers covered under the scheme and make the payments to the banks directly in installments,” Captain Amarinder stated in clear terms, setting all speculations on the issue at rest.
Reiterating his earlier announcement, made in his speech in the Vidhan Sabha on June 19, Captain Amarinder said that on the basis of interim report submitted by the Expert Group headed by Dr. T. Haque, his Government had decided to waive entire crop loans of small and marginal farmers (up to 5 acres) having loans up to Rs. 2 lac. This, he said, would provide a relief of total debt waiver to 8.75 lac farmers (as per the data of the report of 31.03.2017 of State Level Bankers' Committee).Further, he reiterated that his government had also decided to provide a relief of Rs. 2 lac to the remaining marginal farmers (up to 2.5 acres) irrespective of the amount of loan so as to provide relief to all marginal farmers. This will provide relief to additional 1.50 lac marginal farmers.In all, about 10.25 lac farmers will be benefitted by this debt waiver as part of the initiative, which proposes double the relief provided by the States of U.P. and Maharashtra, he pointed out. The Chief Minister said the government had now given 60 days' time to the Expert Group to give its final report proposing the detailed scheme of debt waiver to these 10.25 lac farmers. On the issue of the farming families affected by suicides, the Chief Minister once again clarified that that it had been decided to waive off their entire debt, which the government will now take over.
Referring to the landless labourers, the Chief Minister said his government does not have any record or information either on the number of landless labourers or with regard to their outstanding debt. He therefore proposed that the 5-member committee to be constituted by the Speaker should also look into the issues of the landless labourers and give its recommendations so that appropriate solution of their issues could also be found.The Chief Minister also countered the opposition criticism on the government’s alleged failure to make a provision in the budget for some of the announcements made by him in the field of education.On the issue of starting pre-primary classes (Nursery and LKG) in Government Schools from the next academic session, he said the State Department of Education is working on a new Education Policy and this decision shall be fully reflected in the Policy. For the rest, measures will be taken to appoint requisite teachers in this regard so that the objective could be achieved as early as possible. He assured the House that requisite funds for this purpose will be provided by the Government. Similarly, he said the provisions for free education for girls from Nursery to PhD in State Government institutions will also be fully reflected in the new Policy and the necessary funds will be provided by the Government. He also announced the government’s decision to set up Maharaja Pratap Chair in Punjabi University, Patiala