Adityanath rolls out crop loan waiver scheme

Terms it as template of BJP's pro-farmer governance

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Thursday rolled out the flagship crop loan waiver scheme by handing over loan waiver certificates to the beneficiaries in Lucknow.

On the occasion, waiver certificates were issued to over 7,500 farmers of Lucknow. In the coming weeks, similar events would be held in all the districts to distribute such certificates by the local legislators, Parliamentarians and minister in charges.

The loan waiver scheme would cost the state exchequer Rs 36,000 crore, which the government has already allocated in the annual budget passed by the UP assembly last month. The funds were secured by cutting expenses and managing finances, rather than raising from external sources as was earlier announced.

Speaking on the occasion, he said the scheme was a template of the pro-farmer policies of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government, which was working in tandem with the Narendra Modi led central dispensation to double farm income by 2022.

“Over the last 15 years, farmers had never been in the political and government agenda of the state dispensations with the result that the farmers became victims of poverty and recurring debt burden,” he claimed.

He noted through the loan waiver the government had not delivered any favour to farmers, but only redeemed their dues.

The scheme is touted to benefit 8.6 million small and marginal farmers in the state. So far, the verification of about 7 million farmers had been completed and the process for the remaining farmers was on, he informed from the podium, which was also shared by union home minister Rajnath Singh, UP deputy CMs viz. Dinesh Sharma and Keshav Prasad Maurya, apart from state cabinet ministers.

Yogi enumerated other pro-farmer steps taken by his government, including procurement of 3.7 million tonnes of wheat, announcing minimum support price (MSP) for potato, procurement of 100,000 tonnes of potato, cane arrears payments of over Rs 23,500 crore, apart from announcing Rs 15 per quintal as additional incentive on MSP.

The CM referred to the opening up of about 250 million no frills Jan Dhan savings bank accounts under the pan India financial inclusion scheme initiated by the Modi government as a big facilitator as it enables farmers receive subsidies directly to their bank accounts.

He announced the state was working towards linking revenue records with Aadhar number, so that unscrupulous elements do not fudge land records and defraud farmers.

In its first cabinet meeting on April 4, the Yogi cabinet had approved the crop loan waiver scheme, now officially referred to as ‘Rin Mochan Yojana’ (Loan Alleviation Scheme) to waive off crop loan of small and marginal farmers subject to a ceiling of Rs 1,00,000. It covers loans sourced from banks during 2015-16 financial year towards procurement of seeds, fertiliser and pesticides.

Apart from crop loans, the schemes is also aimed at writing off non-performing assets (NPA) accumulated by commercial and cooperative banks in agricultural sector.

There are an estimated 23 million farmers in UP, of which 92.5 per cent or roughly 21.5 million belong to the small and marginal segments. The crop loan waiver is projected to benefit 8.6 million farmers. Besides, writing off the agricultural sector NPAs is projected to benefit 7,00,000 farmers.

While, it was earlier announced to float Farmers’ Welfare Bond to finance its flagship crop loan waiver scheme, the government had later said it had successfully managed its finances by judiciously utilising resources, cutting expenses and plugging leakages in the budget without having to resort to external funding.

“The crop loan waiver is technically not loan waiver, but debt redemption. We would redeem the debt of small and marginal farmers,” UP additional chief secretary (finance) Anup Chandra Pandey had told media after Budget 2017 was tabled in the state assembly on July 11, 2017.

At the end of March 2016, total agricultural loan outstanding in UP had stood at about Rs 1,21,000 crore, which increased to Rs 1,30,000 crore at the end of March 2017. Thus, crop loan waiver of Rs 30,729 crore was roughly 25 per cent of total outstanding agricultural loan of Rs 1,21,000 crore incurred during 2015-16.

Earlier, the Yogi government had directed banks against issuing notices to beneficiary farmers.

Meanwhile, former UP CM and Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav attacked the Yogi government for segregating farmers as small and marginal for the waiver scheme, claiming all farmers were expecting a uniform policy for relief.