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With the general elections fast approaching, the Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP) is leaving no stone unturned in its electoral campaign. The BJP is undertaking a campaign – kisan adalats or farmer courts from this month onwards to determine the actual implementation of the loan waiver and other farm related schemes. The BJP has lately called the scheme as too little and too disappointing for the bringing relief to small and marginal farmers.
The opposition party at the centre claims that the scheme has done little to address the real issues of rural indebtedness and farmer distress. Venkaiah Naidu, former BJP president remarked that more than 200 farmers have committed suicide in Maharashtra and 110 in Andhra Pradesh after the farm loan waiver was announced. BJP also asserts that the selection of the beneficiaries of the scheme is also faulty. Finance minister P Chidambaram announced the farm loan waiver scheme for Rs 60,000 crore on February 29 this year. The package was later revised and the total outlay for the scheme was increased to Rs 72,000 crore. The farmer suicides are however continuing unabated.
