Crop Loan Waiver Scheme in Bangaru Telangana

​Crop Loan Waiver Scheme:

Indebtedness is one of the major problems that farmers face in the State. As per the “All India Debt and Investment Survey” by National Sample Survey (NSS) 74 percent of the total cultivators in the State are indebtedness (See Box-1 for Details). The Government of Telangana is announced a one-time crop loan waiver to end the perpetual indebtedness of farmers through the Crop Loan Waiver Scheme.

Under the scheme, short-term crops loans (including crop loans against gold) taken by farmers from scheduled commercial banks, cooperative credit institutions and regional rural banks and outstanding as on 31.03.2014 are eligible for a waiver. The eligible amount for debt waiver is up to Rs.1 lakh, including loan amount and interest up to 31.08.2014. The waiver is scheduled to be paid in four instalments.

Table 3.8: District-wise number of beneficiaries and Amount Released under Crop Loan Waiver Scheme

SNo	District	No of farmers benefitted as per UCs	1st Year (2014-15)	2nd year (2015-16)	Total Amount Credited (2) in Statement
			25% Amount Credited	25% Amount Credited
1	Adilabad	3,15,026	365.5	365.5	731.1
2	Karimnagar	3,73,267	415.6	415.6	831.3
3	Khammam	3,58,040	409.1	409.1	818.3
4	Mahabubnagar	5,98,990	673.9	673.9	1,347.8
5	Medak	3,96,191	483.2	483.2	966.3
6	Nalgonda	4,96,629	587.9	587.9	1,175.7
7	Nizamabad	3,79,520	393.4	393.4	786.8
8	Rangareddy	2,08,425	251.2	251.2	502.4
9	Warangal	4,03,856	460.2	460.2	920.3
Total		35,29,944	4,040.0	4,040.0	8,080.0

A total of 35.29 lakh farmers is availing benefits under the Crop Loan Waiver Scheme. District-wise analysis show that Mahabubnagar district has the largest beneficiary (5.98 lakh farmers) availing the scheme followed by Nalgonda (4.96 lakh farmers) and Warangal (4.03 lakh farmers). A total of 8,080 crores was disabused in two instalments (see Table 3.8).
Finance Department has constituted the audit teams in the districts under the supervision of District Collectors to check some selected banks under crop loan waiver scheme implementation. The reports are being submitted to the Finance Department by the District Collectors. The State Government is taking all measures to identify and eliminate bogus beneficiaries under crop loan waiving scheme.

Area under Irrigation

Irrigation plays an important role in increasing agricultural productivity. The Gross Area Irrigated in the State during 2014-15 is 25.29 lakh hectares as compared to 31.54 lakh hectares in the previous year, showing a negative growth of -20 percent. Similarly, net area irrigated came down from22.8 lakh hectares (2013-14)to17.26 lakh hectares (2014-15), showing a negative growth of -24 percent during the same period. Source wise distribution reveals that wells are the main source of irrigation in the State, irrigating about 84% of the total net irrigated area in 2014-15.The share of canal and tank irrigation is confined to mere 10 percent and 4 percent respectively.

Looking at trends of irrigation in Figure 3.7 (with triennium average) over a period of 60 years in Telangana reveals that there is a significant change in the usage pattern of the major source of irrigation. While the tank and canal irrigation shows a declining trend over the years, the good irrigation shows a faster growth rate since 1985-86. While the good irrigation which was 16 percent in 1955-56 was increased to 37% in 1985-86 and further increased to 76% in 2012-13.

The tank irrigation was three times higher than the well and canal irrigation in 1956-57.Over a period of time, it has declined significantly. In the year 1956-57, the percentage share of tank irrigation was 65% which declined to 28% in 1985-86 and further to 10% in 2012-13.

This is a clear indicator of deliberate neglect of thousands of tanks during the Kakatiya period. High dependency on wells have an adverse effect on groundwater levels, therefore, there is a need to increase tank and canal irrigation sources in the State. Hence, the Government has launched “Mission Kakatiya” to revive and rejuvenate tank irrigation. The government has also proposed to re-engineer the canal irrigation projects and allocating a substantial portion of the budget to canal irrigation (Details are discussed in Chapter on Economic Infrastructure).

Gross and Net Irrigated Area: During 2014-15, the gross irrigated area in the State has decreased to 25.29 lakh hectares from 31.54 lakh hectares in 2013-14, showing a decrease of 19.82 percent. The net area irrigated in the state has also decreased to 17.26 lakh hectares in 2014-15 as against 22.80 lakh hectares in 2013-14, showing a decrease of 24.30 percent.

G.Rajendera Kumar