(a) whether the Government has made any changes under the Agricultural Debt Waiver and Debt Relief Scheme in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana States;
(b) if so, the details thereof and the number of farmers benefited under this scheme so far in the three years, State-wise;
(c) whether it is a fact that many irregularities took place while implementing this scheme; and
(d) if so, the details thereof along with the corrective measures taken so far by the Government in this regard, State-wise?
THE MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF FINANCE
(a) to (d): The Agricultural Debt Waiver and Debt Relief Scheme, 2008 (ADWDRS, 2008) was announced in the Union Budget 2008-09 and detailed guidelines for ADWDRS, 2008 were issued on 28.5.2008. The debt waiver portion of the ADWDRS, 2008 was closed by its due date i.e. 30.6.2008, while the debt relief portion of the Scheme was extended upto 30.6.2010. The Scheme benefitted 3.73 crore farmers to the extent of `52,259.86 crore. After the closure of ADWDRS, 2008, no other waiver scheme has been implemented by the Government.
The Performance Audit of the Agricultural Debt Waiver and Debt Relief Scheme (ADWDRS), 2008 was carried out by the Comptroller & Auditor General of India (CAG) from April, 2011 to March, 2012 which reported various errors of inclusion and exclusion at the beneficiary level.
Based on the feedback during Exit Conference with CAG on 7.12.2012, the Government on 11.01.2013 directed all lending institutions to take immediate corrective action and re-verify all the claims under the Scheme. The lending institutions conducted the re-verification exercise, and a recovery of `627.68 crore has been effected in cases involving grant of benefits to ineligible beneficiaries, extension of excess benefits, claim of inadmissible charges/interest or for claims being outside the purview of the Scheme. Disciplinary action has been initiated/taken against the concerned staff by the lending institutions. Responsibility of auditors have been fixed accordingly by the lending institutions and FIRs were filed relating to cases of tampering of records.
*******