New Delhi: The Union Government has not implemented any farm loan waiver scheme in the last five years, Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar informed the Rajya Sabha on Friday. The Minister was responding to questions raised by BJP MP Mahesh Poddar. "No farm loan waiver scheme has been implemented by the Government of India during the last five years," Stated Tomar.
He further stated that as per RBI guidelines all commercial banks were permitted to grant a moratorium of three months on payment of all installments falling due between 1st March 2020 and 31st May 2020 in respect of all term loans including agricultural term loans, retail and crop loans.
"The repayment schedule for such loans was shifted across the board by three months after the moratorium period. In respect of working capital facilities sanctioned in the form of cash credit/overdraft (“CC/OD”), lending institutions were permitted to defer the recovery of interest applied in respect of all such facilities during the period from 1st March 2020 up to 31st May 2020 (“deferment”). This moratorium was further extended up to 31st August 2020 vide RBI circular dated 23rd May 2020," stated Tomar in a written reply.
As for the measures taken by the government to ensure diversification of cropping patterns, the Union Minister said that the cropping pattern is dependent on various factors viz. agro-climatic conditions of the region, availability of resources, market forces, socio-economic conditions of the farmers, demand, and supply of agricultural produce, etc.
"Accordingly, Government of India has been emphasizing promotion of various crops/cropping system viz. rice, wheat, pulses, coarse cereals,nutria cereals & commercial crops under National Food Security Mission (NFSM), oilseeds under NFSM-Oilseeds, horticultural crops under Mission for Integrated Development of Horticulture (MIDH)," added Tomar.
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