Maha govt forms committee on crop loan waiver

Mumbai, July 10 (IANS) The state government is working sensitively to make the lives of farmers bearable and to achieve economic progress in their lives.

Cooperation Minister Babasaheb Patil announced in the Legislative Assembly on Thursday that a committee has been formed to study the loan waiver for farmers.

The minister was speaking while replying to the motion moved by the opposition parties under Rule 293 in the Legislative Assembly.

Minister’s announcement comes amid opposition criticising the government for its dilly-dallying over announcing a farm loan waiver as proposed by the MahaYuti alliance in the state assembly election manifesto.

The opposition has accused the government of a lack of action to implement its long-standing promise, especially when the farm loan waiver is needed to curb rising farmers' suicides and address the financial stress faced by the farmers.

The Cooperation Minister said that a high-level meeting was recently held under his chairmanship in the presence of the Ministers of Revenue, Agriculture, Marketing, Forest and Fisheries to look into the issue of loan waiver of farmers and other problems faced by the agriculture sector in the state.

In this meeting, a detailed review was taken of the implementation of schemes related to the loan waiver of farmers, funds disbursed and pending cases.

“Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Shetkari Samman Yojana - 2017 provides a loan waiver, a one-time settlement scheme, incentive subsidy to farmers who repay loans regularly. Under this scheme, Rs 15,349 crore has been sanctioned for 26.17 lakh farmers till July 2020. Out of this, Rs 13,705 crore has been directly disbursed to the bank accounts of 24.88 lakh farmers. Also, Rs 2773 crore has been sanctioned to 17.22 lakh farmers for incentive benefits and Rs 2427 crore has been disbursed directly to the bank accounts of 14.89 lakh farmers,” said the minister.

Under the Mahatma Jyotirao Phule Shetkari Karzmukti Yojana - 2019, it was decided to waive crop loans up to Rs. 20 lakh. Under this scheme, 32.44 lakh farmers completed Aadhaar authentication. Out of these, an amount of Rs 20,537 crore was sanctioned to benefit 32.33 lakh loan accounts. Out of these, Rs 20,497.53 crore has been deposited in 32.27 lakh loan accounts. The implementation of this scheme is 99 per cent complete, and action will be taken on the remaining cases soon. Eligible farmers who have taken crop loans and repaid them regularly in any two of the three financial years 2017-18, 2018-19 and 2019-20 are given an incentive benefit of up to Rs 50,000 under this scheme, said the minister.

The minister said that under this scheme, an amount of Rs 5222 crore has been sanctioned for providing benefits to 15.40 lakh borrowers, out of which Rs 5216.75 crore has been directly distributed to 14.38 lakh borrowers. The process of providing benefits to the remaining borrowers is in the final stage.

He stated that the schemes implemented by the state government for farmers have provided financial relief to lakhs of farmers, adding that a study committee has been formed to make the implementation of the scheme more dynamic and efficient.

--IANS

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