The farm loan waiver scheme announced by the Janata Dal (Secular)–Congress government led by H.D. Kumaraswamy is set to end on March 31.
Confirming the development, Finance Department officials said most of the eligible farmers had already received the waiver benefit, and about one lakh farmers, who had the eligibility under the scheme, had not submitted their records. “We had taken steps to enable farmers to submit ration cards. Despite this window, nearly one lakh farmers have not come forward to submit the documents and we believe there could be duplicity of accounts,” officials said.
Announced during the 2018–19 Budget, the scheme has so far benefited more than 25 lakh farmers’ families, who were identified based on land records, Aadhaar, and ration card to prevent a family from receiving benefits both in commercial and cooperative sectors. The scheme cost the State exchequer nearly ₹18,000 crore.
“How long do we run the scheme? The scheme is more that one-and-a-half-year old. The deadline for farmers, who still have not availed of the benefits, to submit relevant documents is March 31,” an official said. Another official said that money required for loan waiver for those farmers whose documents were being verified had been set aside.
Meanwhile, the fiscal management review committee that met on February 27 reviewed the crop loan waiver scheme and felt that the scheme had almost attained closure.
