09 May2023, Madhya Pradesh: In the cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, the cabinet has decided to waive off interest up to 2 lakh of 11.19 lakh farmers. The total interest waved off is 2123 crores. This scheme was approved by the Council of Ministers in line with the Chief Minister’s announcement that “the amount of interest will be paid by the government to those farmers who have become defaulters due to loan waiver”. Such defaulter farmers, who have outstanding loans of up to Rs. 2 lakh including principal and interest, as on March 31, 2023, from Primary Agricultural Credit Cooperative Societies (PACS), their interest will be compensated by the state government.
According to the scheme, the farmer should have a loan of up to Rs 2 lakh including short-term crop loan and medium-term converted loan with interest till March 31, 2023. Defaulter farmers will have to apply in their committee to avail interest waivers. The list containing the details of outstanding loans and interest etc. on the defaulter farmers will be made public through a portal at the bank level. Along with this, a special facility has been given to provide fertilizers to the farmers in the scheme. The amount deposited by the farmer in cash in his loan account, he will be able to get fertilizer up to that amount in the form of a loan from the committee. The last date of the scheme has been kept as November 30, 2023. Detailed instructions for the scheme will be issued by the Cooperative Department.
