Sonia hints at raising present ceiling on land holding

Dungarpur, Rajasthan, Apr 3 (UNI) UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi has hinted at raising the present ceiling on land holding for waiving agricultural loans of small and marginal farmers.

Addressing a well attended tribals' rally at the Veneshwar Dham near here, Ms Gandhi said she had received feedback from certain states that the present ceiling on land holding was inadequate and she was hopeful that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh would take sympathetic action soon.

Terming the Rs 60,000 crore farmers' loan waiver scheme as a revolutionary step taken by the UPA Government at the Centre, Ms Gandhi said that over 4 crore farmers in the country would be benefitted by the scheme.

Ms Gandhi said that the the government was duty bound to address the needs and problems of farmers who were our food grain providers.

The present limit of five acres of landholding in the loan waiver scheme had evoked wide spread dissatisfaction from farmers and political parties as they wanted to raise this limit.

Even Congress General Secretary Rahul Gandhi had urged the Prime Minister to raise this limit of landholding appropriately.

Ms Gandhi also expressed satisfaction over the implementation of NREGS in all districts from April one this month and said that the Congress workers should generate awareness among people over the state and ensure that all including women did avail benefit of the scheme.

She also rounded off steps being taken by UPA government and said that partymen should percolate informations in this regard to masses in urban and rural areas.

Addressing a tribal audience, Ms Gandhi said that the UPA Government had also notified the process and rules for delegating land rights to tribal vanvasis in respect of forest land being possessed by them.

She said that under the Vanvasi (Forest Rights Identification) Act 2005, tribals's possessions over forest land upto 4 acre, as on December 13,2005, would be regularised and the government would delegate land title rights to the landholder tribals.

Tribal families living in over 30000 villages in forest areas in the country would be benefitted undert this scheme.

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