Andhra Pradesh to take crop insurance amount

In it’s guidelines for the waiver of farm loans, the AP government stated: “Crop insurance claims of a family as and when received, should be appropriated to the government, to the extent of the amount waived and the balance if any, beyond waiver limit shall be credited to the farmer’s account.”

Thus, if a farmer claims Rs 1 lakh as crop insurance, the amount will go to the government. If the claim amount is of Rs 2 lakh, the government will take Rs 1.5 lakh (equivalent of the waiver) and the balance Rs 50,000 will be credited in the farmer’s account.

The government said that the crop loans and agriculture gold loans disbursed only for crop purposes, including loans converted to Mid Term Loans (MTL) due to calamities up to December 31, 2013, and outstanding (including interest) as on March 31, 2014 are eligible for the scheme.

The loans, which were outstanding as on March 31, 2014, would be eligible for waiver even if they were subsequently repaid to the banks and cooperative institutions. For the purpose of loan waiver, a family is taken as a unit. Family members shall be identifi-ed from documents like ration cards, voters’ list etc.

The scheme will be implemented within 14 days from the date of notification by the government and farmers whose crop loans are waived under the scheme will be eligible for fresh finance from the lending institutions provided the amount waived is equal to the loan outstanding.

The state government directly or though notified agencies will settle the claim received from respective banks and pass on the benefit to the account of the beneficiaries. The government has prioritised the waiver of farm loans in three phases: 1st phase: crop loans, 2nd phase: converted crop loans and 3rd phase: agriculture gold loans only for crop purposes.