Bengaluru: Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy, who is in New Delhi, on Monday continued his efforts to secure finance assistance for the ruling JD(S)–Congress coalition’s much touted farm loan waiver scheme, requesting the Centre to earmark at least 25% of the proposed Rs 2 lakh crore bond it was planning to raise to help nationalised banks, for this purpose. During his meeting with Prime Minister Mr Narendra Modi in New Delhi on Monday, Mr Kumaraswamy said such a move would help both farmers and the banks. Droughts in regular succession have pushed farmers into debt, he said adding that he had come to know that the Centre was floating special bonds to the extent of Rs 2 lakh crore to assist banks improve their capital adequacy norms.
“If the Centre could consider earmarking 25% of these funds for the purpose of waiving the outstanding loans of distressed farmers, it will benefit farmers, banks and the government as well,” he said. Later speaking to reporters, Mr Kumaraswamy said the Prime Minister responded positively to the proposal and had also assured improved coal supply to the state. On the Cauvery row, Mr Modi has promised to convene another meeting before taking a final decision on the Cauvery Water Management Board, for which the Centre has already issued the notification.
Mr Kumaraswamy said he raised two or three technical glitches pertaining to the board with Mr Modi. In the first place, the board was constituted without a debate in Parliament. The second point of contention was about the board members monitoring the water level in the reservoirs once in ten days before releasing water to Tamil Nadu. The third point which has not gone down well with Karnataka is about the board deciding the cropping pattern in the Cauvery basin in the state, he said.
"For one, there is a Supreme Court direction that it is Parliament which has to constitute the board for which Parliament should have a debate. Secondly, we are the upper riparian state and the board dictating water release and cropping patterns will threaten the federal structure of the country. We have to suggest two names to the Board and I have assured that we will do so. The Prime Minister has assured us that another meeting will be convened before taking a final decision on the functioning of the Board," Mr Kumaraswamy said.
