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THE HINDU DELHI NORTH & EAST 3
SUNDAY, MARCH 3, 2019
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‘Soft loans to sugar mills poll sop’

Opposition, farmer groups hit out at govt. for ‘bailing out’ mills ahead of elections

Priscilla Jebaraj
mills are defaulters in the
NEW DELHI
eyes of the law; why is the
The Centre’s decision to pro­ government helping to bail
vide ₹10,540 crore as soft them out? In U.P., there are
loans to sugar mills to help still ₹1,300 crore arrears
clear mounting arrears to pending and mills have not
cane farmers is being even complied with court or­
slammed as an election gim­ ders to pay the interest to the
mick by both opposition pol­ farmers,” he said. “Everyone
iticians and farmer groups. understands that this is just
an election jumla, but peo­
Sixth major package ple in the villages will not be
Earlier this week, the Union taken in.”
Cabinet approved a proposal While Uttar Pradesh has
whereby the government the highest arrears, it is the
will bear interest subvention Farmers carrying sugarcane queue up outside a sugar in second­largest producer of
costs at 7­10%. Banks will di­ Rohtak. * FILE PHOTO sugar in the country. Vijay Ja­
rectly pay the arrears into wandia, a farmers leader
farmers’ bank accounts on time, they do not want to put pressure on the govern­ from Maharashtra, the top
behalf of the mills. This is the take any risks,” said Samaj­ ment,” he said, adding that sugar­producing State, said
sixth major package to bail wadi Party spokesperson measures to regulate and di­ that such populist measures
out the cash­starved sugar Sudhir Panwar, who was the versify the industry would would not solve the pro­
sector since May 2018. The SP candidate in 2017 for one prove a better long­term so­ blems of the sector. “Ten
move may help reduce the of the Assembly seats falling lution to the woes of the su­ other major crops should be
arrears which have now within the Kairana Lok Sab­ gar sector. made remunerative, so that
crossed ₹22,000 crore. ha constituency, in the heart V.M. Singh, convenor of there is crop diversification
“This has clearly been an­ of Uttar Pradesh sugar Rashtriya Kisan Mazdoor away from sugar,” he said,
nounced with an eye on elec­ country. Sangathan, which repre­ pointing out that cane is also
tions. Last year [in June “This is also the result of sents cane farmers, said the a water­guzzling crop which
2018], the BJP lost the Kaira­ blackmail by the sugar mills. government should have di­ farmers grow only because
na bypoll because of anger of Their tactic is to withhold rectly paid the farmers with­ profitability is guaranteed by
sugarcane farmers. This payment, so the farmers will out involving the mills. “The the government.

Three more teachers
suspended in Odisha

Correspondent
CUTTACK
Three teachers have been suspended in Ka­
lahandi district after the photos of the math­
ematics question paper in the ongoing ma­
triculation examination went viral on social
media in Odisha on Saturday.
The incidents of question paper leak are
going on unabated despite tall claims made
by the Board of Secondary Education that
measures are being taken to check the
menace.
“We learnt about it midway into the day’s
examination and found that the photo­
graphs of the question papers were taken on
a smartphone from an examination centre
located in Kalahandi district. The District
Education Officer suspended three teachers
in this connection,” said BSE president Ja­
han Ara Begum.
Expressing her inability to check the me­
nace, Ms. Begum said written complaints Download Indian Library App
will be filed against the three to initiate cri­
minal proceedings against them.