Lok Sabha Question No. 370 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2020-09-15
Subject: Loan Waiver for the Farmers
Ministry: AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE
Asked by: K. Muraleedharan

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE, COOPERATION AND FARMERS WELFARE

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.370

TO BE ANSWERED ON THE 15 TH  SEPTEMBER, 2020

## LOAN WAIVER FOR THE FARMERS

370.   SHRI K. MURALEEDHARAN:

Will the Minister of AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE कृ ष एवं कसान कयाण मंी be pleased to state:

- (a) whether the Government has taken any steps for loan waiver for the farmers amid of major losses due to the Covid-19 pandemic out break;
- (b) if so, the details thereof; and
- (c) the  details  of  relief  measures  given  to  agricultural  farmers  to  overcome  from  the major losses due to lockdown?

## ANSWER

MINISTER OF AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE

कृ ष एवं कसान कयाण मंी ( SHRI NARENDRA SINGH TOMAR)

- (a) & (b): Government  has  not  announced  any  proposal  for  loan  waiver  for  the farmers during the COVID-19 pandemic.
- (c): The details of relief measures given to agricultural farmers are at Annexure . All the relaxation  were  given  for  agri-sector,  because  of  which  harvesting  was  not  impacted. Further,  procurement  centres  were  increased  leading  to  record  procurement.  Summer crop sowing and Kharif sowing have also increased this year.

Concessional Credit Boost to farmers : Special drive initiated to cover 2.5 crore farmers under  Kisan  Credit  Card  Scheme  (KCC)  for  providing  institutional  credit  facilities  at concessional rates.   This drive will infuse concessional credit worth two lakh crore rupees in  the  rural  sector.    By  3 rd September,  2020,  123.51  KCC  cards  were  issued  and  Rs. 106,191 crore worth loans were sanctioned.

Agri Infrastructure Fund : A fund of one lakh crore rupees is created for development of agriculture infrastructure projects at farm-gate and aggregation points (such as cooperative societies and Farmer Producer Organizations).

Emergency working capital for farmers : An additional fund of Rs. 30,000 crores will be released as emergency working capital for farmers. This fund will be disbursed through NABARD  to  Rural  Cooperative  Banks  (RCBs)  and  Regional  Rural  Banks  (RRBs)  for meeting their crop loans requirements. This fund is expected to benefit three crore small and marginal farmers. This is in addition to the financial support of Rs. 90,000 crores that will be provided by NABARD to RCBs and RRBs to meet the crop loan demand this year.

Support to fishermen: The Pradhan Mantri Matsya Sampada Yojana (PMMSY) has been launched  for  integrated,  sustainable,  and  inclusive  development  of  marine  and  inland fisheries. Under this scheme, Rs. 11,000 crores will be spent on activities in Marine, Inland fisheries,  Inland  fisheries  and  Aquaculture  and  Rs.  9,000  crores  will  be  spent  for developing infrastructure (such as fishing harbours, cold chain, markets).

Animal  Husbandry  infrastructure  development: An  Animal  Husbandry  Infrastructure Development  Fund  of  Rs.  15,000  crores  has  been  set  up,  with  the  aim  of  supporting private  investment  in  dairy  processing,  value  addition,  and  cattle  feed  infrastructure. Incentives will be given for establishing plants for export of niche dairy products.

Extension of Interest Subvention for the extended period of repayment of Short term agri  loans: In  order  to  ensure  that  farmers  do  not  have  to  face  the  situation  of  paying higher interest and they can continue getting the benefit of 2% lnterest Subvention (lS) to Banks  and  3%  Prompt  Repayment  lncentive  (PRl)  to  farmers  for  agriculture  including Animal Husbandry, Dairy & Fisheries due to COVID-19 pandemic outbreak, Government has extended the period for repayment of short term agri-loans initially upto 31.05.2020 and later upto 31.08.2020.

Under Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY), claims of Rs.13,614.6 crore were paid during the COVID -19 Pandemic.

A sum of Rs.345.71 crore was approved by the High Level Committee for drought and pest attack (locust) under National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF) during the period of Lockdown as financial assistance to the states.

## Initiatives to boost marketing during COVID-19:

Liberalizing  regulations  under  respective  State  Agricultural  Produce  Market  Committee (APMC)  Acts.  to  facilitate  Direct  Marketing,  enabling  direct  purchase  from  the  farmers/ Farmer Producer Organizations (FPOs)/ Cooperatives etc. by FPO trading module has been launched in National Agriculture Market (e-NAM) platform to facilitate FPOs to trade their  agricultural  produce  from  their  collection  centres  without  bringing  the  produce  to Agricultural Produce Market Committee markets. Warehouse based trading module was also  launched  in  e-NAM  platform  to  enable  farmers  to  sell  their  produce  from  WDRA registered warehouses notified as deemed market. 415 new mandis have been integrated into e-NAM platform during COVID-19 lockdown period taking the total number to 1000 eNAM mandis in the country. 'KISAN RATH', a farmer friendly mobile application, to facilitate farmers in finding suitable transport vehicles for transportation of their Agriculture & Horticulture produce was launched. Promulgated  'The  Farmers'  Produce  Trade  and  Commerce  (Promotion  and Facilitation),  Ordinance,  2020'  to  promote  barrier-free  inter-state  and  intra-state  trade  in farmers' produce to facilitate remunerative prices to farmers. Promulgated  'The  Farmers  (Empowerment  and  Protection)  Agreement  on  Price Assurance  and  Farm  Services  Ordinance,  2020'  to  protect  and  empower  farmers  to engage  with  agri-business  firms,  processors,  wholesalers,  exporters  or  big  retailers  for farm services and sale of future farming produce at a mutually agreed remunerative price

framework in a fair and transparent manner.

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