Debt waiver: Govt wants to verify, link farmer accounts with Aadhaar

CHECKING FRAUD By linking Krishi Cards with UID, govt will be able to ascertain exact debt amount

CHANDIGARH: The Punjab government is planning to ask the State-Level Bankers Committee (SLBC) to link Krishi Cards of farmers with their A ad ha ar numbers as a first step towards debt waiver. Farmers get subsidy for seeds, fertilisers and other inputs through local cooperatives, and a maximum of ₹50,000 is credited into their Krishi Card accounts.

By linking these cards with the unique identification (UID) or Aadhaar number, the government will be able to ascertain the exact debt amount and identify any potential fraud.

Following upon a poll promise, the Congress government has announced waiver of crop loans of up to ₹2 lakh for small and marginal farmers. As a first step, a budgetary provision of ₹1,500 cr ore was made, though the crop loans have been assessed at around ₹9,500 crore.

The government believes that linking of Kris hi Cards with A adhar will help find out if the same family has multiple loans or overdraft limits, so multiple waive rs are not given to one family.

However, it’s easier said than done. So far, there is no mandate from the Centre to link Krishi Cards with Aadhaar number; that is only for savings accounts, by March next year. Kris hi Card linkage will need consent of the farmers. The issue was discussed in the meeting of th e SLBC, which comprises representatives of 38 nationalised and private banks, with finance minister Manpreet Singh Badal last week.

While the government might issue directions to the SLBC to start the linking, the banks have insisted that an announcement be made by the government first .“Once the announcement is made by the government, farmers will line up to get it done. Banks telling farmers will not help as those who want extra benefit will like to hide ,” said a senior SLBC official.

The state government had formed a panel led by T Haque, a former chairman of the Commission of Agricultural Costs and Prices, to study the debt. According to a member of the panel, there is duplication of at least 10% in the ₹9,500 crore that the government plans to waive.

As per the proposal, ₹6,000 crore of the waiver would go to the banks under the SLBC, and ₹3,500 crore to the Punjab State Cooperative Bank that reaches out to the farmers through district- level cooperative banks and village-level societies.

“Once we get data from the banks about each farmer, things will be clear. Linking accounts with Aadhaar will make it transparent,” a panel member said. This will also help in the long term to solve the problem of farmers making multiple overdraft limits within one eligible household.

SEEKING RBINOD TO RAISE MONEY

Meanwhile, as the cash-s trapped state government has no money for debt waiver, it has to go for loans. But the state has already exhausted its borrowing limit. The government has approached the Reserve Bank of India for a nod to stretch the limit.