Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu on Thursday announced the roll out of Debt Redemption Scheme of Rs.1.5 lakh each to 22.7 lakh farmers’ families in the State from December 10, redeeming the politically loaded promise he made over six months ago.
At a media conference here, Mr. Naidu said while there were more than 82.66 lakh bank accounts relating to crop loans, 40.43 lakh of them would be cleared under the scheme in the first phase.
He boasted that never before in the history of the country did any State government or Union government waive crop loans of such a large number of farmers.
Small farmers to benefit
Mr. Naidu said the debt redemption cap of Rs. 50,000 per family was decided mainly to benefit small and marginal farmers who constitute 50 per cent of the 22.79 lakh families. Mr. Naidu said loans up to Rs.50,000 per family would be redeemed in one stroke, while those between Rs.50,000 and Rs.1.5 lakh would get a 20 per cent redemption now and the remaining outstanding amount would be cleared in four annual instalments of 20 per cent each.
The beneficiaries who had valid Aadhaar numbers and ration cards were cleared in the first phase and about 42.23 lakh accounts did not have Aadhaar accounts and ration cards. Such individuals were given four weeks time to provide documents. The scheme would be applicable to loans availed from April 1, 2007 to December 31, 2013. The number of accounts to be processed in the second phase stood at 42.23 lakh.
He said the list of beneficiaries of the first phase would be published on December 6. The farmers Empowerment Corporation would adjust the loan amount to banks by December 12. The list of second phase beneficiaries would be verified by village Janmabhoomi committees from December 9 to January 8, 2015 and the amounts would be cleared between January 17 and 22.
The State government would immediately transfer Rs.5,000 crore earmarked for the scheme to the corporation. Mr. Naidu announced that families which took loans for horticulture would be provided debt relief of Rs.10,000 per acre. A similar scheme for Dwcra women would also be announced soon.
