Fulfilling one of its key poll promises in Uttar Pradesh, the BJP Government on Tuesday announced waiver of farm loan to the tune of Rs36,359 crore to provide succour to over 86 lakh small and marginal farmers. The Aditya Nath Yogi Government also decided to bring “Kisan Rahat Bond” to make up for the loss to the exchequer. “The Government has decided to waive all the outstanding crop loans of small and marginal farmers as on March 31, 2017 taken till March 31, 2016 up to a maximum limit of Rs1 lakh per farmer,” Government spokesman and Health Minister Sidharthnath Singh said while briefing reporters after the Cabinet meeting.
There are around 2.15 crore small and marginal farmers, which is about 92.5 per cent of the total farming community, in UP.
The State Government will also offer one-time settlement scheme to all those accounts, which have been declared Non Performing Assets (NPA) by banks. “The total financial burden would be Rs36,359 crore of which Rs5,630 crore will go for one-time settlement which will benefit 7 lakh farmers,” he said.
Singh said that the Government will bring a law in the coming Budget session to approve the loan waiver scheme. The farmers who have taken crop loans for wheat, paddy along with purchase of pesticides and fertilisers would be eligible for the scheme.
“It was our commitment to the farmers that the BJP Government would waive crop loans of small and marginal farmers. We have fulfilled that promise today,” Singh said. He said that all farmers with land holding less than one hectare or 2.5 acres would be considered as marginal farmers, while farmers with land holding between one hectare and two hectares or between 2.5 acres and 5 acres would be considered as small farmers. The Cabinet also set up an eight-member committee under the chairmanship of chief secretary to prepare the crop loan waiver scheme.
The committee would oversee all aspects of implementation and monitoring of the scheme. The Government spokesperson said there have been successive droughts, floods and hailstorms in the last three years and the worst affected due to these have been the small and marginal farmers. As these farmers are unable to repay the loan, they could fall in the trap of local moneylenders, hence the Government announced the loan waiver scheme, Singh claimed.