TRS promises loan waiver up to ₹1 lakh per farmer

In poll-bound Telangana, the Telangana Rashtra Samithi on Tuesday promised several sops, including loan waiver up to ₹1 lakh per farmer, as it did in 2014, and increased the amount of investment support to landholding farmers to ₹5,000 per acre per season from the existing ₹4,000.

Other major promises announced by TRS president and caretaker Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao here after nearly four hours of deliberations at the party manifesto committee are: unemployment allowance of ₹3,016 per month and increase in social security pensions given to the aged, widows, physically challenged, weavers and beedi workers. He also promised to reduce



the age eligibility for old-age pensions to 57 from the present 65.

Asked whether the TRS was announcing the hike in sops as the Congress had already been talking about them, Mr. Rao said his party was not bothered about what the Congress and other parties promised for the election.

“We have decided to restrict the farm loan waiver only to ₹1 lakh as we have some basis for it. Let the Congress announce it as ₹5 lakh, it’s up to that party,” the TRS chief said, adding that there were about 45.5 lakh farmers who had borrowed money from banks for agricultural needs and the borrowing of nearly 42 lakh was less than ₹1 lakh.