Punjab Cabinet clears crop loan waiver scheme, announced by CM in June
The Punjab Cabinet on Wednesday gave its approval to notify the crop loan waiver scheme announced by Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh in the state assembly in June this year.
The funds shall be provided to the DC's and each farmer shall be issued a dept relief certificate by the concerned bank branch after crediting the relief amount in his account.
The government has also decided to take over the outstanding interest of farmers from 1st April, 2017 till the date of notification, which will lead to an additional Rs 400 crore benefit to the farmers. The entire amount would be defrayed to the banks in a phased manner, except for the cooperative credit institutions, an official spokesperson disclosed after the cabinet meeting.
The crop loan waiver scheme, based on the recommendations of an expert group headed by eminent economist Dr. T. Haque, will directly benefit nearly 10.25 lac farmers across the state. The Chief Minister had in June announced waiver of the entire crop loans (upto Rs 2 lacs) of all small and marginal farmers (upto 5 acres) and a relief of Rs.2 lac to the remaining marginal farmers irrespective of the amount of loan.
The notification envisages that in case of marginal farmer (less than 2.5 acres) the entire eligible amount of those farmers who have total outstanding crop loan liability upto Rs. 2 lakh shall be provided as debt relief. In case of eligible amount of more than Rs.2 lakh, only Rs.2 lakh shall be provided as debt relief.
In case of a farmer who has taken loans from two separate lending institutions, the first priority shall be given to the Cooperative institutions and second to the Public Sector Banks and third to the Commercial Banks in that order. As per data collected from State Level Bankers Committee, there are about 20.22 lac bank accounts with an outstanding crop loan of Rs. 59,621 crore as on March 31, 2017.
The increasing costs of inputs coupled with marginal increase in minimum support price have contributed to squeezing the margins of the farmers. As per studies carried out by Punjab State Farmers' Commission and Punjabi University, Patiala, the debt per household which was about Rs. 1.79 lac in 2005-06 had increased to Rs. 4.74 lac in 2014-15.
-PTC News
