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Relief package for Gujarat riot victims

	May 26, 2008

In a politically significant decision, the Union Cabinet last week approved a Rs. 330 crore relief package for the victims of the 2002 post-Godhra riots in Gujarat. The package provides for the payment of additional ex-gratia to the victims and their kin as also towards damage to residential properties and unin¬sured commercial properties.



The next of kin of 1,169 people killed in the riots would be paid Rs.3.5 lakh ex gratia in addition to the amount paid by the State government, Finance Minister P. Chidambaram told journal¬ists on May 22. . This would amount to an additional liability of Rs.40.91 crore on the exchequer, he said.



A sum of Rs.1.25 lakh would be paid to each of the 2,548 people injured after deducting the amount already paid to them by the State government, he said. This would cost the Central ex¬chequer Rs.29.64 crore.



The victims, whose residential properties had been damaged, would get an additional ex gratia 10 times the amount given by the State government after excluding the amount already paid by the State. The additional liability on this count would come to Rs.262.44 crore.



The Gujarat government had paid Rs.29.16 crore in 29,467 cases of damage to residential properties.



The Cabinet also gave its approval for grant of additional ex gratia for damage to uninsured commercial and industrial properties, he said. In these cases, the ex gratia would be 10 times the amount given by the State government, deducting the amount already paid.



The package for the Gujarat riot victims will be on a par with the measures taken for the victims of the anti-Sikh riots of 1984.



Reacting to the decision, the BJP demanded a uniform policy of relief and compensation for riot and terror attack victims in the country.





Farm loan waiver gets bigger



In another decision, meant to woo large sections of society, the Government announced on May 23 that the farm loan waiver will also provide relief to big farmers. With this, the loan waiver will now cost Rs. 71680 crore, an increase of about 20 per cent over the original estimate of Rs. 60,000 crore mentioned in the Union Budget.



As per the expanded and modified scheme approved by the Cabinet, in keeping with demands from various quarters including Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi, all farmers, small, marginal and big, in 237 identified dry, unirrigated and drought prone districts will get a minimum one time debt relief of 25 per cent of their outstanding loan amount or Rs. 20,000 whichever is higher.



Briefing journalists, Finance Minister P. Chidambaram made it clear that the loans of small and marginal farmers would be completely waived, whether they were in the identified districts or other regions.



In view of the inclusion of big farmers in dry land areas holding larger acreage, the scheme would benefit more than four crore small, marginal and other farmers.



“Small and marginal farmers will get full debt waiver, while 60-65 per cent of large farmers also get full debt waiver. This is why the cost of the scheme has increased.”



The number of small and marginal farmers expected to benefit from the enlarged scheme stood revised to 3.69 crore against the earlier estimate of three crore, while the number of other farm¬ers was scaled down to 59.75 lakh from one crore.



The waiver scheme, Chidambaram said, would be implemented by the end of next month and instructions issued to all bank branches to prepare a list of beneficiary-farmers for display on their premises.





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Record wheat procurement



Observers say that the Government’s moves to bring down food prices as part of its plan to bring down inflation will be helped by the record wheat procurement this season. Over 207 lakh tonnes of wheat has been procured this year, the highest since Independence. Last year, only 99.71 lakh tonnes of wheat had been procured for the public distribution system.



According to Food Corporation of India sources, procurement of wheat at Rs. 1000 a quintal will continue till the end of the season on June 15. By that time, the Government expects to pro¬cure upto 215 lakh tonnes of wheat.



The higher procurement is attributed to a higher minimum support price as well as to multinationals and private traders buying a much lower quantum than in the last two years.



There has been a quantum jump in the procurement from Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Rajasthan and Gujarat over last year.



Sources say thanks to the record procurement, the price of wheat should moderate in the open market. It is hovering between Rs. 12 and Rs.13 a kilogram at present.



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3. Attending IAEA meeting : Left to oppose Govt. move



The Left parties have decided to oppose the UPA Government’s move to attend the meeting of the Board of Governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) scheduled to be held early next month. The Left parties took the decision at their meeting in New Delhi on Friday, May 23. CPI(M) general secretary Prakash Karat said that the government was trying to convey through the media that in the absence of the nuclear deal, the country was not getting enough uranium to operate the reactors. He said the Left parties are unable to understand how the short¬age is taking place.



A statement by the Left parties said : “Neither the Depart¬ment of Atomic Energy, nor the government ha given the nation any explanation of how this current shortage has come about when we have known reserves in the country to sustain a nuclear energy programme of at least 10,000 MW. The government owed an explana¬tion to the country on the shortage of uranium.”



CPI(M) politburo member Sitaram Yechury said on May 24 that the Left is against the government attending the meeting of the IAEA Board of Governors. He said the Left would convey its position to the Government in the next meeting of the UPA-Left Coordination Committee on the nuclear deal, which is to take place on May 28.





No talk of support withdrawal



Reports emerging from the Left meeting indicate that there was no talk of withdrawal of support to the UPA, even though CPI general secretary A.B. Bardhan had claimed earlier that the meeting will discuss withdrawal of support to the Manmohan Singh government. Participants in the meeting said : “The question of continuing ties with the Congress did not come up.”



Observers say that the Left posture indicates that the Communist parties are not prepared for an early election. The just-ended civic elections in West Bengal have indicated serious denting of the Left strength in the rural areas.



On the price rise issue, the Left parties repeated their old demand for a ban on futures trading in 25 essential items, uni¬versalisation of the public distribution system and rationalisa¬tion of duties on petro products. They also sought the revival of a control regime.





Lalu Yadav hopes nuclear deal will go through



Signaling a change in the RJD stance on the Indo-US nuclear deal, Railways Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav has said that most misunderstandings with the Left on the issue had been cleared and he hoped that the deal would go through. Speaking in Kuala Lumpur, he said, “I am very very hopeful that the deal will happen which is in India’s favour.”



Another RJD leader, Rural Development Minister Raghuvansh Prasad Singh said in New Delhi, “We support the agreement and we want it to get through.”



Earlier, the Samajwadi Party of Mulayam Singh Yadav had said that it is willing to reconsider its opposition to the nuclear deal if the Government “shares” with it fresh reasons for going ahead with it.





Left parties oppose any increase in oil prices



Another conflict between the UPA Government and the Left parties is looming over the issue of increase in oil prices. With crude in international markers going upto $ 135 a barrel, the Government has to decide in the next few days how to bail out the oil marketing companies, whose finances have taken a hit. The Left parties have indicated their total opposition to any hike in oil prices, saying that any government move in this direction would be suicidal.