Jharkhand government to waive farm loans up to ₹2 lakh

Jharkhand Agriculture Minister also asks banks to prepare a proposal to close all non-performing farm loan accounts.

The Jharkhand government on Friday decided to waive farm loans up to ₹2 lakh to grant relief to over 1.91 lakh farmers in the state, news agency PTI reported.

Jharkhand chief minister Champai Soren addresses during a special session of the State assembly (PTI)

Jharkhand Agriculture Minister Badal Patralekh asked the banks to present a proposal for the loan waiver, in a meeting with the officials of the State Level Bankers Committee (SLBC).

"Loans ranging from ₹50,000 to ₹2 lakh taken by farmers till March 31, 2020, will be waived through one-time settlement," the minister said. He also added that, in 2021-22, the state government announced crop loan waiver of up to ₹50,000.

“As per its promise, the state government had waived loans up to ₹50,000 of more than 4.73 lakh farmers... The Jharkhand government has given an amount of over ₹1,900 crore to banks,” PTI reported the Minister as saying.

In a move to make farmers debt-free, the Minister also asked the bank officials to send a proposal to close all non-performing asset (NPA) accounts to the state government.

In Feb 2024, the new Chief Minister Champai Soren led Jharkhand government tabled a ₹1.28 lakh crore budget for the fiscal year 2024-25. The budget also increased the limit under the farm loan waiver scheme from ₹50,000 to ₹2 lakh, reported the Economic Times.

As per an Indian Express report, the number of farmers in Jharkhand is between 22 lakh to 32 lakh and most among them are single crop growers. Before the previous installment of loan waiver in Dec 2020, the state had 12.93 lakh farmers with outstanding farm loans amounting to almost ₹5,800 crore.

(With inputs from PTI)