MINISTER OF THE STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF FINANCE (SHRI PRANAB MUKHERJEE)
(a) to (g): A Statement is laid on the Table of the House.
Statement referred to in reply to Parts (a) to (g) of Lok Sabha Starred Question No. 410 to be answered on
31st July,2009 regarding Debt Waiver Scheme, tabled by Shri Balkrishna K. Shukla and Shri Dinesh Chandra Yadav.
(a) & (b): As provided in the Guidelines of Agricultural Debt Waiver and Debt Relief (ADWDR) Scheme 2008, every lending
institution has appointed one or more Grievance Redressal Officers (GROs) for each State having regard to the number of
branches of that lending institution in the State. The name and address of the GRO concerned is to be displayed in each
branch of the lending institution. The GRO has the authority to receive representations from aggrieved farmers and pass
appropriate orders thereon within 30 days of receipt thereof.State-wise details of the grievances received and disposed
of by banks are at Annex.
(c) & (d): In order to provide relief to farmers in times of natural calamities, Reserve Bank of India has issued guidelines
to banks which, inter alia, include conversion of the principal amount outstanding into term loans for periods ranging from
3 to 10 years depending upon the frequency of crop failures/intensity of damage to crops, disbursement of fresh crop loans
to the affected farmers, etc.
(e) to (g): The stipulations of ADWDR Scheme, 2008 did not include the prompt paying farmers as the Scheme was intended to
benefit the defaulter farmers by de-clogging the line of credit by making them eligible for fresh credit from the banking
system. However,it has been announced in the Union Budget Speech 2009-10 to provide an additional subvention of 1 per cent,
over and above the subvention on short term crop loans, as an incentive to those farmers who repay such loans on schedule.
Thus, the interest rate for such farmers will come down to 6 per cent per annum on short term crop loans.
