Farmers pitch for debt relief board, PF, cheaper loan

Farmers today pitched for constitution of debt relief board, provident fund, cheaper loans for machinery and moratorium on repayments of loans during an interaction with Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi here.
Interacting with the Congress leader, one of the farmers Bhupinder Singh Mann expressed concern over the "dismal" condition of farming community in the country, saying agriculture was under severe stress and it has become a loss making venture.
Proposing his points to be incorporated in the manifesto, Mann sought from Rahul to launch a provident fund scheme especially for farmers on the pattern of organised sector.
"Under the scheme, five per cent share should be deducted from farmer's income, five per cent should be contribution of state and 10 per cent should be of the Centre," he said.

Mann also suggested that there should be a three year moratorium on repayment of farm loan in order to provide relief to peasants from growing debt burden.
"The repayment could start from 2017," he said.
Among others, he also demanded constitution of a debt relief board exclusively for farmers so that they could get relief from debt like sick industrial units getting relief from Board for Industrial and Financial Reconstruction (BIFR).
Interacting with Rahul, who was here to gather inputs for Congress' Lok Sabha poll manifesto in this village in Sonepat district, another farmer Ajay Jakhar, demanded cooperative societies should be given interest free loan for three years to enable them to buy farm machinery to be used by farmers which would reduce debt burden on farming community.