New Delhi: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has written to Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman urging the Centre to extend the moratorium on repayment of short-term crop loans of farmers to 31 December.
In the letter, Rahul said that the farmers across the country were in an acute distress owing to the Covid-19 pandemic.
The majority of farmers in his constituency, Wayanad, were small and marginal farmers and they were depending on cash crops for their livelihood, he said.
“Just as the farmers were on their road to recovery, the Covid pandemic struck. This has severely heightened agrarian distress. Currently, farmers avail short-term crop loans at a concessional rate under the interest subvention scheme,” he said.
He added: “However, factors including multiple lockdowns, disruptions in the supply chain and limited market access have severely affected farm incomes.”