Finance Minister P Chidambaram on Sunday sought to allay apprehensions that the Rs 60,000-crore farmers package will lead to collapse of the cooperative and scheduled commercial banks and weaken the banking system.
A combative Finance Minister strongly defended the budget proposals including the loan waiver, which Opposition parties have said was aimed at Parliament elections. He expressed confidence that the budget would spur growth despite the fears of global slowdown.
“I don’t think (so),” he said when asked about fears that the loan waiver scheme to help four crore farmers will lead to collapse of the cooperative banks and the scheduled commercial banks.
“I have said whatever loans are written off, an equivalent liquidity will be provided to the banks concerned. That is a statement which I am sure Dr Alagh (agricultural expert) will understand and appreciate. As for A B Bardhan (CPI leader) I have nothing to say,” he said when asked about their comments that the waiver scheme could lead to collapse of cooperative banks.
Alagh, a former Planning Commission member and a Minister of State for Agriculture, had said that the Rs 10,000-crore waiver given by V P Singh government had led to closure of several cooperative banks. The Finance Minister also said Bardhan should stand up and be counted as being opposed to the loan waiver scheme. “I don’t know what his position is,” he said.
To a question about farmers owing repayment of loans to money lenders, he asked, “Which private money lender should I compensate?”
Why worry now?
Chidambaram sought to know why such questions were not raised when political parties were raising the demand for loan waiver. “Why raise it now?” he asked.
He declined to comment on Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar’s statement that farmers need not pay their dues to private money lenders. “That is his view. I am not commenting on that,” he said.
Scheme to help tax payers
Mumbai, pti: Similar to the Tax Return Preparers who help individuals file income tax returns, the government has now introduced a scheme to help out service tax payers.
The government will soon authorise a set of qualified people to help service tax payers file their returns and pay tax. With the scope of service tax being increased every year with new services brought under the net, more number of people are being subjected to paying service tax.
As many are not comfortable filing their service tax returns, Tax Return Preparers will help them prepare their returns.
I am sure that banks wont collapse, what will happen are scams like before and all would be forgotten, the richest farmers encash their money and we will start all over again and everyone will call that new learnings and letting bygones be bygones, dont we know leadership traits when we see them? Te FM has so largeheartedly given the middle class women a fortune of 4000 Rs. to save or spend, does he not know what to expect from this? His dhoti will remain white and that he is sure of ;-)
