As over 1,000 farmers have committed suicide in Maharashtra this year, the State government has opened another avenue to offer agriculture loans, tapping into the Rs. 24,000 crore available with 21,000 cooperative credit societies.
After over four years, the government has allowed non-farming urban and rural cooperative credit societies to lend to farmers. However, these loans cannot exceed 20 per cent of the total loans disbursed by the societies.
“We have taken the decision to ensure that farmers get more options of getting loans. This will help reduce their dependence on private moneylenders…,” Principal Secretary (Cooperation) S.K. Sharma told The Hindu .
On Thursday, Relief and Rehabilitation Minister Eknath Khadse said that during 2014-15, the State had lent Rs. 34,100 crore to farmers. However, the farmers had, of late, been devastated by natural calamities; so they need more loans. “The government is trying to ensure that institutional credit goes up, and the decision is in keeping with the policy,” Mr. Sharma said.
The cooperative credit societies have a network in rural and semi-urban areas. The government hopes the decision to make them lend to farmers will help resolve the financial problems facing farmers. However, no special concession will be offered.
The then Congress-Nationalist Congress Party government had made such a decision in 2005. When a bailout package was announced for farmers in 2009, several problems cropped up since many farmers had taken loans from banks and credit societies on a single mortgage. Furthermore, the package made no mention of loans taken from societies. Hence, the government retracted the decision in 2009.
The present order allows credit societies to lend on adequate mortgage.
