Hyderabad: The agriculture and cooperation department has released the guidelines for Rs 2 lakh crop loan waiver being implemented by the State government on Monday. Loans obtained by the farmers on or after December 12, 2018, loans renewed after that date, and outstanding loans till December 9, 2023, will be waived-off at one go.
To ascertain the eligibility of beneficiaries, the food security card, also called white ration card under the public distribution system’s (PDS) database is being taken as the basis, in addition to PM Kisan Samman Nidhi’s data of beneficiaries.
The commissioner of agriculture (director of agriculture) will be the officer in-charge of implementing the crop loan waiver -2024 scheme, with the national informatics center (NIC) being the IT implementation partner. An IT portal is being developed in collaboration with both the implementing agencies.
Loan account data collection, data validation and the eligibility of the farmer’s household will be ascertained through this portal. There will be separate modules in this portal to share the information with various stakeholders, and to address the grievances which may be logged in by the farmers. Through this portal, the bills will be submitted to the IFMIS portal of the finance department.
An official in every bank would be made the bank nodal officer (BNO), who would act in liaison between the commissioner of agriculture and NIC. That official will be responsible for digitally signing and submitting the accurate crop loan data through their core banking solution’s proformas. This is being done to prevent wrong entries and omissions. On every document and record of the bank, the signature of the BNO will be taken. If it is found that any of the established guidelines are violated, legal action will be initiated against the erring bank.
To identify the genuine beneficiaries, the State government is going to map the aadhar card number in the loan account, with the aadhar number in the pattadar passbooks and the aadhar number in the PDS database.
To determine the as-is situation of farmer’s loan accounts in the PACS, the director of cooperation and the registrar of cooperative societies will have be conducting an advanced sample audit, and will be submitting the report to the commissioner of agriculture.
The State government reserves the right to audit the bank account of any farmer as per the guidelines of RBI and NABARD through statutory auditors and special auditors.
If at all a farmer is found to have submitted false information to obtain loan, or is found to be not a genuine beneficiary, the farmer would have to repay the waived loan amount back to the State government, for which the commissioner of agriculture will have full authority to recover the amount.
The cumulative outstanding loan of Rs 2 lakh for eligible farmer’s household till December 9, 2023 will be permitted. Through direct benefit transfer (DBT), the crop loan waiver amount will be deposited directly in the farmer’s loan account if it is a bank. In case of loan obtained through a primary agricultural cooperative society (PACS), the loan waiver amount will be deposited in the district cooperative commercial bank (DCCB) concerned or its branch, which will then deposit the money in the farmer’s loan account in the PACS.
The total loan of a farmer’s household by December 9, 2023, or Rs 2 lakh (whichever is lesser), will be deposited in the farmer’s loan account. If the loan amount is more than Rs 2 lakh, the loan amount in excess of the ceiling will have to be paid by the farmer to the bank, after which Rs 2 lakh will be deposited in the farmer’s loan account.
In case of a farmer’s household having a total loan of more than Rs 2 lakh, first the loan of the female loan account holder will be waived, after which the rest of the family members’ loans will be waived-off as per the proportion of loan obtained by them.
To resolve the complaints lodged by the farmers regarding the crop loan waiver and to answer their queries, the commissioner of agriculture will be establishing a grievance redressal system. The farmers can either lodge their grievances through the IT portal, or at the mandal-level help centers. Officials would have to resolve the farmers’ grievances within 30 days after receiving a complaint, and would inform the farmer.
Harish Rao criticises the guidelines
“Looking at the guidelines released by the government for implementing the crop loan waiver scheme, it’s clear the focus is more on filtering farmers than providing relief. There’s a stark contrast between statements made during elections and actions taken after gaining power, suggesting a pattern for the Congress party,” Siddpet MLA T Harish Rao commented on the guidelines issued for crop loan waiver on Monday.
“The rule excluding farmers who took loans before December 12, 2018, appears unjustified. The announcement of Food Security Card and PM Kisan Scheme as standards has shattered the hopes of countless farmers,” he added.
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