In its first major populist decision, the incumbent Yogi Adityanath government in Uttar Pradesh today fulfilled one of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) flagship pre-poll promises by announcing crop loan waiver worth over Rs 36,000 crore.
The decision was taken at the inaugural state cabinet meeting chaired by chief minister Yogi here this evening.
The scheme covers crop loans sourced from banks during 2016-17 financial year towards procurement of seeds, fertiliser and pesticides, UP cabinet minister and spokesperson Siddharth Nath Singh told the media post the cabinet meeting.
The crop loan waiver would cost the exchequer Rs 30,729 crore. An additional Rs 5,630 crore would be incurred in writing off non-performing assets (NPA) accumulated by the different commercial and cooperative banks in the agricultural sector. Thus the total succour to farmers amounts to Rs 36,359 crore.
Under the scheme, the Yogi government has waived crop loans pertaining to the small and marginal farmers in the state subject to a ceiling of Rs 1,00,000.
The writing off the agricultural sector NPAs is projected to benefit 7,00,000 farmers in the state. This would not only enable these farmers to prospectively seek crop loans, but also clean up the account books of the concerned banks as well.
In run up to the 2017 UP poll, BJP had promised that if voted to power, it would take the decision to waive crop loans in the first cabinet meeting of the state government.
According to official data, there are 23 million farmers in UP, of which about 92.5% or roughly 21.5 million belong to the small and marginal segments.
Considering the financial burden on the state’s finances and to keep the fiscal deficit under the stipulated 3% mark, the Yogi government would float Farmers’ Relief Bond to the tune of the composite crop loan waiver amount.
“The crop loan waiver scheme would be put before the state assembly meeting during its forthcoming budget session for approval,” Singh informed.
He also referred to the distress in the state farm sector due to the natural vagaries of floods, drought and hailstorms in the past years.
Besides, the state cabinet decided to constitute a Group of Ministers (GoM) to draft a New Industrial Policy for UP. The GoM would be headed by deputy chief minister and former Lucknow Mayor Dinesh Sharma and comprise senior ministers viz. Rajesh Agarwal, Satish Mahana, Gopal Das Nandi and Srikant Sharma.
The GoM would visit top industrial states such as Gujarat, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh to study their industrial policies and draft a similar document for UP to spur industrialisation and investment, and to generate job opportunities to stop migration of youth to other states in search of employment.
Besides, another GoM would be constituted headed by another deputy CM Keshav Prasad Maurya to root out illegal mining in the state. Other members of the GoM include Suresh Khanna and Dara Singh. The GoM would submit its report within a week.
Meanwhile, Singh informed that only 26 illegal slaughterhouses had been shut in UP and that the state government would follow the directives of the National Green Tribunal (NGT) in letter and spirit.