Agriculture: The Maharashtra government announced a slew of measures to aid the state’s farmers including disbursal of crop loans with zero percent interest rate, 33 percent rebate on pending electricity bills, strengthening of the Agricultural Produce Market Committee (APMC) mandis, and so on.
The interest-free loan amount has been capped at INR 3 lakh. The Maha Vikas Aghadi-led government will pay the interest on these crop loans on behalf of the farmers. The aim is to free farmers from the burden of paying interest on loans and prevent them from turning into defaulters.
The state government had announced the Mahatma Jyotirao Phule Farmer loan waiver scheme in December 2019. “Under the scheme, INR 19,929 crore has been credited to the accounts of 31.23 lakh farmers. It also paved the way for farmers to get new loans,” according to Ajit Pawar, the state’s finance minister. In 2019-20, crop loans amounting to INR 28,604 crore were disbursed, while in 2020-21, crop loans of INR 42,433 crore were disbursed.
Farmers with pending electricity bills will also get a 33 percent rebate from the state government. “If the farmers pay 50 percent of the remaining arrears by March 2022, 50 percent of the remaining amount will be waived off,” said Pawar.
For small and marginal fruit and vegetable growers, the government has announced the Maharashtra Agribusiness Network Project (Magnet). The INR 1,000 crore project will be implemented over a period of six years to raise farmers’ incomes.
On the performance of MahaDBT portal launched in December 2020 that aims to provide farmers with a single platform to access various agricultural schemes, Pawar said that more than 11 lakh farmers had registered on the portal and more than 25 lakh applications have been received so far.
Read this article on why farmers are protesting against the three new farm laws passed by the central government in September 2020.