The Telangana state government is diligently working on the implementation strategies for the 2 lakh Crop Loan Waiver Scheme Eligibility Criteria and Implementation Plans, aimed at waiving loans up to ₹2 lakhs before August 15th. This initiative primarily targets eligible farmers while excluding specific groups such as taxpayers and employees.
Exclusion of Taxpayers and Employees
Proposals have been submitted to the government, suggesting that taxpayers, employees, MPs, MLAs, and MLCs should be excluded from the loan waiver scheme. The final decision will be made after a comprehensive discussion in the Cabinet.
2 lakh Crop Loan Waiver Scheme Eligibility Criteria and Implementation Plans
Officials are preparing a list of individuals who have taken loans up to ₹2 lakhs from banks, as directed by the government. This list is expected to be completed within the next few days. In the meantime, the Agriculture Department is conducting an extensive study based on various criteria to determine the eligibility of beneficiaries.
Beneficiaries Under Rythu Bandhu Scheme
There are currently 6.6 million beneficiaries under the Rythu Bandhu scheme in the state. Officials estimate that nearly the same number of individuals have taken loans below ₹2 lakhs. However, around 600,000 of these beneficiaries do not have passbooks. If passbooks are considered a standard requirement, the number of beneficiaries for the loan waiver could reduce to 6 million. Additionally, many families have multiple beneficiaries under the Rythu Bandhu scheme, but not all family members possess ration cards. If the ration card rule is enforced, the waiver would only apply to the head of the family, potentially reducing the number of beneficiaries by 1.8 million. Furthermore, excluding government employees, taxpayers, MPs, MLAs, and MLCs could decrease the eligible beneficiaries by another 200,000. Therefore, officials estimate that around 4 million individuals would fall under the loan waiver scheme after applying these exclusion criteria.
Challenges in Implementing the PM-Kisan Samman Nidhi Scheme
Currently, 3.6 million individuals in the state receive assistance under the PM-Kisan Samman Nidhi scheme. Although there are discussions about aligning the loan waiver scheme with the PM-Kisan Samman Nidhi guidelines, the government finds it challenging to implement these standards uniformly for the waiver.
Determining the Effective Date
Some officials have proposed that loans taken from a year before the Congress party came to power should be waived. However, the government is considering waiving loans taken or renewed from December 12, 2018, onwards. Detailed information about the loan recipients is being collected accordingly.
Final Decision Pending Comprehensive Discussion
The government has received several proposals regarding the loan waiver scheme. However, a final decision will be made only after an in-depth discussion in the Cabinet. The government plans to apply the waiver to eligible individuals and is preparing to set up a vigilance cell to oversee the implementation process from the village level to the state level.