|
The Government has realized that indebtedness is one of the major reasons for suicide by farmers in the country. To save the farmers from the clutches of private moneylenders, the Government has taken several measures and has advised the banks to:
To increase the agricultural credit flow at the rate of 30 per cent per year.
To restructure the outstanding debt of the farmers under the following heads in accordance with the guidelines issued by Reserve Bank of India (RBI)/National Bank for Agriculture & Rural Development (NABARD):
Farmers in distress – Rescheduling/restructuring of the outstanding loan of the farmers as on 31st March, 2004 in the districts declared as calamity – affected by the State Government. Rescheduled loan shall be repayable over a period of five years, at current interest rates, including an initial moratorium of two years.
Farmers in arrears - Loans in default of farmers who have become ineligible for fresh credit as their earlier debts have been categorized as sub-standard or doubtful shall be rescheduled as per the guidelines so that such farmers become eligible for fresh credit.
iii. To grant a one-time settlement (OTS) including partial waiver of interest or loan to the mall and marginal farmers who have been declared as defaulters and have become ineligible for fresh credit. Banks have also been advised to review cases where credit has been denied on the sole ground that a loan account was settled through compromise or write offs.
iv. In some parts of the country, farmers face acute distress because of the heavy burden of debt from non-institutional lenders (e.g.,moneylenders). Banks have been permitted to advance loans to such farmers to provide them relief from indebtedness.
v. All the Public Sector banks have been advised to reduce their lending rate for agriculture to a single digit rate of not more than 9 per cent per annum on crop loans upto a ceiling of Rs. 50,000/- . This rate will benefit most of the crop loan account holders and will cover almost all the small and marginal farmers.
vi. To waive margin/security requirements for agricultural loans up to Rs. 50,000 and agri-business and agri-clinics up to Rs.5 lakhs.
UM/Hb
|
