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Sonia Gandhi Writes to PM on Farmers' Woes

Assembly Election Dates Announced NEW DELHI: The Election Commission announced the dates for the Assembly elections to be held in five states. The election in Mizoram will be held on 20 November while the election in Delhi, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh will be held on December 1. The counting of votes in Mizoram will be held on December 2 and in other states from 4 December. The Congress is in power in Delhi, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh.

NEW DELHI: Concerned over the farmers' problems, especially in obtaining loans, the Congress president, Smt. Sonia Gandhi, urged the Prime Minister, Shri Atal Behari Vajpayee, on September 22 to sort out the `internal differences' between the Ministers of Finance and Agriculture, on the issue.

Raising several points, in a letter, including the reduction in the rate of interest on the General Line of Credit (GLC) by NABARD, strengthening of cooperative credit institutions, ensure that banks achieve stipulated 18 percent of total loans to agricultural sector, and to extend credit to farmers who work as tenants or leased lands, she suggested that Shri Vajpayee arrange an early meeting of the ministers concerned.

Referring to her communication to the Agriculture Minister, through which she made suggestions regarding the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development, Smt. Gandhi said she was "pleasantly surprised" to read in the newspapers that the Minister had recently written to the Finance Minister stating that these and some other measures could go a long way in easing farmers' accessibility to credit. "However, the Finance Ministry has so far been unable or unwilling to take positive decisions on these urgent issues," she said.

Smt. Gandhi said she was told that the Reserve Bank had reduced the rate of interest on the GLC from 6.5 percent to 6.25 percent in July this year but it was not clear whether this marginal decrease would have the desired effect. "No decision appears to have been taken on increasing the GLC itself on the ground that this would have an impact on the surplus that the RBI transfers to the Government", she said.

The Finance Minister, she said, would admit that the banks were not accepting community/ group collateral. The Indian Banks' Association has also advised member-banks to give preference to groups in giving loans and to explore giving finance to landless farmers through self-help groups. This cannot be implemented unless the RBI issues formal directions