Telangana: Crop loan waiver comes with tough riders; many farmers could lose out

The conditions have already triggered apprehensions that several farmers could lose out on the waiver, for which they were waiting desperately ever since Revanth Reddy himself had egged them on during his campaign to go and avail loans immediately and that he would waive them off.

Hyderabad: The Congress government has once again revealed its true colours by imposing multiple riders for farmers if they want to avail the much awaited crop loan waiver, for which guidelines were issued here on Monday.

Right from amount that would be waived, to the eligibility criteria that a farmer has to meet to become a beneficiary, all come with a tough set of conditions, which were not mentioned by the Congress, Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy in particular, when the promise of the crop loan waiver was repeatedly made during the recent Assembly and Parliament election campaigns. The conditions have already triggered apprehensions that several farmers could lose out on the waiver, for which they were waiting desperately ever since Revanth Reddy himself had egged them on during his campaign to go and avail loans immediately and that he would waive them off.

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Despite the Chief Minister repeatedly assuring farmers that no strict conditions would be imposed, the State in the Government Order (G.O. Rt. No 567) listing out the guidelines, has said the waiver would not be applicable for rescheduled loans or restructured loans. The waiver would also be limited to Rs.2 lakh per farmer’s family, with the principal amount and interest component as on December 9, 2023 also to be considered.

At the same time, the food security card (ration card) database of the Civil Supplies department would be considered as a parameter to determine a farmer’s family, including the household head, spouse and children.

The waiver would be applicable only to short term crop loans obtained between December 12, 2018 and December 9, 2023, and would be implemented only for loans obtained from scheduled commercial banks, rural banks and district cooperative banks.

With the interest component coming in, farmers will have to pay the excess loan amount (more than Rs.2 lakh) to the banks. This means, for instance, if a farmer had taken a loan of Rs.3 lakh, and the interest was Rs.25,000, he would have to pay Rs.1.25 lakh first, and only then would the waiver amount of Rs.2 lakh be deposited into the farmer’s loan account.

This apart, exemptions under PM-KISAN and whatever data available with the State government would be taken into consideration for implementation, the GO says.

The Agriculture Commissioner and Director would be the implementing authority for the crop loan waiver and the National Informatics Centre (NIC) would be IT partner for the implementation.

An exclusive portal would be operated for implementation of the farm loan waiver programme. All the details, including each farmer’s loan account, data validation, eligibility and others would be made available in the portal.

The agriculture department would be setting up grievance cells to address complaints raised by farmers. They can lodge the complaints on the portal or at the centres at mandal level. Officials should process the application and address it within 30 days and the same should be informed to the farmers.

Every bank would be appointing a nodal officer and the officer would be coordinating with the agriculture department and NIC. Banks must submit digitally signed data from their Core Banking Solution (CBS) to the government. The associated bank branch will submit the data for Primary Agricultural Cooperative Societies (PACS).

The eligible loan waiver amounts will be credited directly to the farmer loan accounts through the DBT method. Farmers found to have provided false information or fraudulently obtained loans would have to repay the waived amount. The farm loan waiver would not be applicable for loans secured by SHGs, JLGs, RMGs and LECS.

• Waiver not be applicable for rescheduled loans or restructured loans

• Waiver to be limited to Rs.2 lakh per farmer’s family

• Principal amount and interest component to be included

• Interest as on December 9, 2023 to be considered

• Beneficiary has to first pay loan amount excess of Rs.2lakh, including interest

• Only after excess amount is paid will waived amount be transferred to farmer’s account

• Beneficiaries require ration cards

• Food security card database of Civil Supplies department is parameter to determine farmer’s family

• Waiver applicable only to short term crop loans obtained between December 12, 2018 and December 9, 2023

• Waiver only for loans obtained from scheduled commercial banks, rural banks, district cooperative banks