Amid ongoing farmer protests in two BJP-ruled States of Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has clarified that the farm loan waiver promised by his government would be implemented soon after the State Assembly passes the Budget 2017-18.
Mr. Adityanath has also instructed the Finance Department to make it clear to banks that they will not issue any notice to beneficiary farmers for loan repayment till the budget was passed, a government spokesperson said. The budget session is likely to be convened in July.
Banks have been asked to issue loan waiver certificates to the bona fide farmers after the Budget.
The farm loan scheme would be implemented through “constitutional means,” Mr. Adityanath told senior officials on Friday night during a high-level meeting of the Finance department.
The Chief Minister’s fresh instructions assumes significance amid growing concerns that the government’s much-talked about crop loan waiver scheme has not materialised on the ground yet and could trigger similar protests in U.P.
One-time settlement
It must be recalled that in its first Cabinet meeting, on April 4, the Adityanath government had decided to waive off farm loans up to ₹1 lakh. Along with ₹30,729 crore, the cost of the loan waiver, it was decided that the government would settle around ₹6,000 crore of non-performing assets (NPA) of seven lakh small and marginalized farmers, to whom the banks had stopped issuing loans, through a one-time payment.
The double decision will benefit over 86 lakh small and marginalised farmers in the State who took loans until March 31, 2016. The total cost to the State exchequer would amount to ₹36,000 crore.
To ensure the “effective implementation of the scheme”, Mr. Adityanath has directed that a meeting of the State-level bankers committee be convened.
Spread the word
He has also instructed officials to constitute a committee at the district level under the chairmanship of the district magistrates to ensure that the crop loan scheme reaches farmers and that information about it spreads from village to village.
The district agricultural officer will be the member secretary of this committee. “It was also decided that bank accounts of farmers benefiting from the scheme should be linked to Aadhaar,” the government said.
Along with the farm loan, the State had also promised to set up 5,000 centres for wheat procurement and would start of by purchasing 40 lakh metric tonnes of wheat [with a total target of 80 lakh metric tones] at a rate of ₹10 per more than the minimum support price (MSP) per quintal.
As per the figures released by the government, under the price support scheme it has so far procured 32.16 lakh metric tonnes of wheat, which is four times more than the previous year. Moreover, sugarcane farmers have already been paid more than ₹22,190 crore.
