The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : SLBC urges speedy relief for farmers in distress

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Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

SLBC urges speedy relief for farmers in distress

Special Correspondent

Recent spell of rain has damaged crops in 14 districts

— Photo: K. Gopinathan

Funding fundamentals: (From left) Chief Secretary Sudhakar Rao, Syndicate Bank Chairman and Managing Director C.P. Swarnkar and RBI Regional Director Devaki Muthukrishnan at the State-level Banker’s Committee meeting in Bangalore on Tuesday.

Bangalore: The 104th meeting of the Karnataka State-level Bankers’ Committee (SLBC), attended by representatives of commercial banks, cooperative institutions, Regional Rural Banks, the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD), the Reserve Bank of India and senior officials of key departments of the State Government, deliberated on providing speedy relief to farmers affected by the recent spell of unseasonable rainfall. The meeting paid special attention to the debt waiver scheme announced by the Union Finance Minister recently.

Discretionary powers

C.P. Swarnkar, chairman of the SLBC and chairman and managing director of Syndicate Bank, in his keynote address, said regional heads of commercial banks had “discretionary powers” so that they need not seek approval from their corporate headquarters while meeting the targets set at district- and State-level bankers’ meetings. Bank branches should provide immediate financial assistance to protect and revive standing crops.

Short-term loans

He suggested that banks take urgent steps to provide short-term crop loans and for expenses such as the purchase of draught animals, repairing existing wells and installing pumpsets. They should also provide consumption loans, apart from fresh loans for enabling the resumption of normal business.

He said the lead bank in the districts, along with the district administration, should “take effective steps for speedy disbursement of assistance”. The lead bank, acting in coordination with block authorities and gram panchayats, could also identify affected farmers to implement the relief measures, he said.

Chief Secretary Sudhakar Rao said 14 districts had been badly hit by the recent spell of rain. The Government, he said, “is still assessing the extent of damage”. The banks “should do whatever they can, by providing relief”.

Mr. Swarnkar said all banks in the State had implemented the first phase of the financial inclusion programme in all districts by enabling ‘No Frills Account’ for all those who wished to open an account. He said banks needed to take steps to cover the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) area, which is still not fully covered by the programme. About 27 lakh such accounts had been opened in the State.

He proposed that a Farmers Training Institute be set up in Bagalkot district, which is one of the most backward districts in the State. He said the SLBC would submit a proposal to the Government seeking land for the centre. Commercial banks had waived overdue interest on agricultural loans (as on July 1, 2006) totalling Rs. 443.48 crore. While the loans waived by Regional Rural Banks amounted to Rs. 79.18 crore, those of cooperative institutions in the State amounted to Rs. 113.61 crore. The total cost of the waiver of overdue interest was Rs. 636.27 crore.

Subcommittee

Devaki Muthukrishnan, regional director, RBI, said a subcommittee had been set up, which would work out the modalities of an IT-enabled financial inclusion package, which would facilitate disbursal of social security payments apart from payment for work under the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme through smart cards. She said the project would be implemented on a pilot basis in Bellary and Chitradurga districts, after which it would be replicated in the entire State.

D.B. Gore, chief general manager, NABARD, said his institution was classifying farm loan data according to the size of landholdings of farmers.

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