Farm loan waiver to benefit not more than 50 lakh

Mumbai: The farm loan relief programme is unlikely to benefit more than 50-lakh farmers, though the state government recently widened the scheme’s scope, sources say.

The total amount that would be deposited into farmers’ accounts will be less than Rs 20,000 crore. Until now 34 lakh farmers have benefited to the tune of Rs 14,700 crore. When the scheme was launched in June 2017, initial estimates said some 89 lakh farmers would benefit to the extent of Rs 34,022 crore.

But the latest numbers available make it clear that the scheme is unlikely to reach that scale. Experts claim that the scheme’s stringent conditions have become a hurdle in disbursing the benefits.

The government announced the 'Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Shetkari Samman Yojana' on June 24, 2017. The state has 1.36-crore crore farmers' accounts of which almost 90 lakh farmers have taken loans. Almost 44-lakh farmers have defaulted on their loans. Only 35-lakh farmers regularly repay their loans. There are 10-lakh farmers whose loans were restructured from 2001. Almost 56-lakh farmers have applied for the loan waiver scheme. But the state's stringent criteria have become a hurdle for many.

“On the ground, there are many hurdles. Farmers can get the announced Rs 1.5-lakh loan waiver only if they opted for one-time settlement of their loans of more than that amount. There is also the major hurdle of implementation of the scheme from national banks. These banks are not clearing loans as they haven't received money from state government. So this scheme has turned into a big-time fiasco and it is unlikely to achieve its target,” said Atul Deulgoankar, an agriculture expert.

Number game

The previous government may win the numbers' game in the farmer relief schemes.

The previous scheme benefited 70 lakh farmers, though the total amount disbursed was only '11,000 crore as against less than 50-lakh farmers now.