Farmers who have cleared their debts within the period covered by the Rs 60,000-crore loan waiver scheme should be provided interest-free loans for three years, suggested a Parliamentary committee.
"Prompt repayers of loans during the period covered by the debt waiver scheme should be allowed full interest subvention in immediate future agricultural loans for the next three years so as not to send wrong signals to debtors prompting them to default in payment and disincentivise prompt repayers," the Standing Committee on Agriculture said in its report.
In addition to interest subvention, the panel has recommended agricultural loans at interest rate of 4 per cent if indebtedness of farmers to moneylenders cannot be covered by the debt waiver scheme.
"Banks may give loans at 4 per cent per annum to the farmers to redeem their debts to moneylenders and the government may give interest submission (subvention) to compensate the banks," the committee, headed by Ram Gopal Yadav, stated.
The committee has further said that the debt waiver scheme should invariably be accompanied by appropriate efforts that enable farmers consolidate the gains from the relief.
The report said farmers benefited from the scheme should be given subsidised and good quality seed and fertiliser to produce enough marketable surplus to sustain themselves from next season onwards.
