New Delhi : An expert group headed by NITI Aayog adviser Dr T Haque, constituted by the Punjab Government to look into the waiver of farm loans, is likely to submit its interim report before June 15.The state government is keen on rolling out a relief package for indebted farmers during the Budget session next month.
The group, which includes Baldev Singh Dhillon, VC, PAU; Dr Balwinder Singh Sidhu, state’s Agriculture Commissioner; and PK Joshi, South Asia Director, International Food Policy Research Institute; met here today. It is learnt that Dr T Haque and the others deliberated upon various options the government can chose from for implementation.
Dr Haque said, “We met for the second time and are in the process of tabulating data to analyse and firm up the quantum of debt. Some data is there with us and some needed to be collected from lenders and the RBI. Possibly, we will be able to quantify the total loan before the next meeting in the coming week.”However sources privy to the meeting stated that out of the total 20 lakh crop loan accounts, 60 per cent belonged to marginal farmers, whose land holding is below 5 acres. “There are 5.71 lakh accounts belonging to marginal farmers and 8.15 lakh are with small farmers,” an official said. Meanwhile, “not completely ruling out the Uttar Pradesh model” where farmers are being given loan waiver up to Rs 1 lakh, a senior NITI Aayog official said, “This may not work in the case of Punjab, given the state’s financial health. The experts are working on various scenarios, assessing the burden on the exchequer.”