NABARD should change its attitude: Minister

Thiruvananthapuram, Feb 3 (UNI) Kerala Co-operation Minister G Sudhakaran today suggested that the ailing farm sector in the state could be revived only if the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) changed its discriminative attitude towards the state in the distribution of agriculture loans.

In a statement, he charged that the NABARD, which claimed to stand for helping the peasants and developing the farm sector, was violating the assurances and taking an approach of crushing the agriculture loan sector.

Though it claimed that its activities were for the progress of the farm sector, as far as the state was concerned it was not encouraging, he said, adding the NABARD was retreating its declaration that it would distribute agriculture loans at the rate of 2.5 per cent and even it was not ready to release loans in proportion to the loans distributed by the state.

Though NABARD, in the beginning of the financial year, had declared that it would distribute Rs 650 crore as agriculture loan at an interest of 2.5 per cent, only Rs 10.5 crore was released till the date, he pointed out.

The NABARD not yet released Rs 179.49 crore in whole to the State Co-operative Bank, which provided the amount to the district co-operative banks for distributing agriculture loans, he said.

It was to revitalise the farm sector, which neglected by the previous United Democratic Front (UDF) and also to rescue the farmers from blade mafias, the government had taken steps to made available agriculture loans through primary societies, he added.

UNI