Major changes in agriculture debt relief Bill
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There are two major changes in the Kerala Agriculture Debtors (Temporary Relief) Bill. The changes, as passed by the Assembly during the clause by clause discussion, seeks to give protection to farmers who are charged with a criminal case filed either before the onset or during the moratorium period for loan repayment. The amendment to Sub-section 2 of Section 3 of the Bill explicitly states that no criminal proceedings would stand in the event of the debtor farmer filing a case before the said criminal court where he faces prosecution claiming that the debt comes under the purview of the Act. The other major amendment relates to the payment of monthly installments, which was increased from 24 to 30, inclusive of the interest rates, as mentioned in Section 5 of the Act. The debate on the Bill as reported by the Assembly Subject Committee began with Mr. K. V. Kunhiraman (CPI-M) moving his dissenting note, demanding more relief under the Act, including writing off debt to the tune of Rs. 25,000. Some of the Opposition members wondered whether the State Government should have come forward with such a legislation. They felt that it would have been sufficient had the Government issued an executive order to bring its proposals into effect as had been done by the V. P. Singh Government in 1989. The Revenue Minister, Mr. K. M. Mani, explained that an executive order would not withstand the scrutiny of the courts and the Government felt that its proposals needed to be given legislative protection. Moreover, the V. P. Singh Government had written off debts by making budgetary allocation for that year’s budget. He said that the State Government would have to incur an additional burden of Rs. 100 crores, but he expected it to go up further. |