Karnataka draws blueprint for farm loan waiver
Bengaluru, July 25 : The Karnataka government has drawn a blueprint to waive crop loans of farmers from state-run and co-operative banks in the southern state, an official statement said.
"The government has prepared a blueprint to waive off loans upto Rs 48,000 crore that includes loans from co-operative banks, subsidy and crop loans granted by the state-run banks," said a statement from the Chief Minister's Office.
The blueprint includes the Rs 34,000 crore loans to be waived as announced by Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy while presenting the state Budget on July 5.
Total loans amounting upto Rs 48,000 crore to be waived include Rs 37,159 crore crop loans granted to the farmers by state-owned banks and about Rs 9,500 crore of current loans, the statement added.
The banks are to ready the details of farm loans from across the state that are eligible to waived, and the process of waiver will commence after the state's review.
As per the election manifesto promises of the Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S) to waive farm loans if voted to power, Kumaraswamy, who is also the state party chief, had announced in his budget speech to waive upto Rs 2 lakh crop loans per farmer family.
"All crop loans defaulted by farmers upto December 31, 2017 are waived in the first stage. Only loans borrowed from district co-operative banks and state co-operatives are waived in the first stage," he had said.
The budget had also proposed to allot Rs 6,500 crore to enable farmers avail fresh loans after they submit a clearance certificate from the department concerned that their loan arrears have been waived.
The previous waiver by former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah had cost the state exchequer Rs 8,165-crore.
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Kerala-born entrepreneur linked to Lebanon pager blasts, Bulgarian agency clears him of involvement
Wayanad: Rinson Jose, a Kerala-born entrepreneur and Norwegian citizen, has been linked to the investigation into the recent pager explosions in Lebanon that resulted in at least 20 fatalities and thousands of injuries.
Jose, 37, is the owner of Bulgaria-based Norta Global Limited and is suspected of being involved in the supply chain for the pagers used in the attacks on September 17, 2024.
“Although on paper it was BAC Consulting that signed the contract with Gold Apollo, Norta Global was actually the one behind the deal,” Telex, a Hungarian media outlet quoted sources as saying.
Reports suggest that Jose has gone missing since the attacks.
However, an investigation by Bulgaria's security agency, SANS, has cleared Jose and his company of any direct involvement, stating that no shipments related to the pagers passed through Bulgaria.
“Following verifications, it has been indisputably established that no communication equipment corresponding to those that exploded on September 17 was imported, exported or manufactured in Bulgaria,” the agency was quoted as saying by AFP. It added that the company and its owner had not carried out any transactions linked to the sale or purchase of the merchandise or that “falls under laws on terrorism financing".
