(a) the number of debt ridden farmers in the country, State/UT-wise;
(b) whether the Government proposes to constitute a Farmers'' Debt Relief Commission and if so, the details thereof and if not, the reasons therefor;
(c) whether the farmers especially cotton growers in the country are committing suicide due to pressure of loans taken from banks; and
(d) if so, the details thereof and the remedial measures taken by the Government in this regard?
MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE
???? ??? ????? ?????? ???????? ??? ????? ?????? (SHRI PARSHOTTAM RUPALA)
(a): The number of debt ridden farmer households in the country, State/UT-wise, as per the Situation Assessment Survey (SAS)-2013 in the report (2014) of National Sample Survey Organization (NSSO), available for 18 major States, with All-India average, are furnished below:
State Estimated Number of Agriculture households having outstanding loan
Andhra Pradesh 3342100
Assam 599500
Bihar 3015600
Chhattisgarh 953800
Gujarat 1674300
Haryana 664500
Jharkhand 646400
Karnataka 3277500
Kerala 1090800
Contd…2/-
-2-
Madhya Pradesh 2741400
Maharashtra 4067200
Odisha 2583000
Punjab 749900
Rajasthan 4005500
Tamil Nadu 2678000
Telangana 2262800
Uttar Pradesh 7908100
West Bengal 3278700
All India* 46848100
*Based on all States and Union Territories, including States and Union Territories
not shown in this Statement
Source: NSSO (2014), Government of India
(b): No, Madam.
(c) & (d): As per the reports “Accidental Deaths and Suicides in India (ADSI)” for the years 2014 and 2015 published by the National Crime Records Bureau of Ministry of Home Affairs, the reasons for suicide by farmers are manifold, which inter-alia, include crop failure, drought, socio-economic and personal reasons and indebtedness to both institutional and non-institutional sources of credit.
Farmers including cotton growers are indebted to both institutional and non-institutional sources of credit. However, borrowing from non-institutional sources is the major reason for debt related farmers distress which is one of the reported reasons for farmers’ suicide in the country.
Government has taken several remedial measures to reduce dependence of farmers on non-institutional sources of lending. The measures include fixation of annual targets for improving agricultural credit flow which has constantly increased in the past. In 2017-18, the target is fixed at Rs.10 lakh crore as against Rs.9 lakh crore in 2016-17; provision of crop loans upto Rs.3.00 lakh @4% per annum to such farmers who repay their loan as per the repayment schedule fixed by the banks; extension of benefit of interest subvention scheme to small & marginal farmers having Kisan Credit Card for a further period upto six months for storing their produce in warehouses against negotiable warehouse receipts; collateral free loan upto Rs.1.00 lakh; scheme for financing of Joint Liability Group (JLGs) etc.
Further, by way of relief measures for natural calamities, Reserve Bank of India has issued guidelines in their circular dated 21.08.2015. Accordingly, banks have been advised to allow maximum period of repayment of upto 2 years (including the moratorium period of 1 year) if the crop loss is between 33% and 50%. If the crop loss is 50% or more, the restructured period for repayment is extended to a maximum of 5 years (including the moratorium period of 1 year).
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