ALL KINDS of service charges like processing fee, inspection, ledger folio charges for loans up to ₹3.00 lakh has [sic] been waived off. Collateral free loan limit for short-term agri-credit has been raised from ₹1.00 lakh to ₹1.60 lakh. Union Minister of Agriculture and Farmers' Welfare Narendra Singh Tomar said this in the Lok Sabha in answer to a question on improving farmers' access to agricultural loans on December 14, 2021.
"Both the claims are hollow. Allahabad Bank made me pay ₹1,700 for my Kisan Credit Card (KCC) this May," says Hirawan, a farmer from Khargaura village in Shravasti district of Uttar Pradesh. "I also had to mortgage my 0.5 hectare (ha) farmland as collateral to avail a loan of ₹65,000. They have given me a cheque of only ₹60,000, saying that ₹5,000 will remain in the KCC account from which interest will be deducted," he adds.
India has several Central and state-level schemes offering farm loans, but almost all agricultural loans for day-to-day crop cultivation are disbursed through KCCS (see For all farming needs'). To understand the guidelines banks follow while issuing KCCs and the fee they charge, Down To Earth (DTE), between March and August, filed multiple queries under the Right To Information Act 2005 to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and two of the country's largest public sector banks-the State Bank of India (SBI) and Punjab National Bank (PNB). The responses also contradict the minister's statement in the Lok Sabha.
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Denne historien er fra September 16, 2022-utgaven av Down To Earth.
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In leading role again
MOVIES AND WEB SERIES ARE ONCE AGAIN BEING SET IN RUSTIC BACKGROUNDS, INDICATING A RECONNECT BETWEEN CINEMA AND THE COUNTRYSIDE
One Nation One Subscription comes at a huge cost
As top US universities scrap big deals with top scientific publishers, India’s ONOS scheme seems flawed and outdated
Return of Rambhog
Bid to revive and sell the aromatic indigenous paddy variety has led to substantial profits for farmers in Uttar Pradesh's Terai region
Scarred by mining
Natural springs of Kashmir drying up due to illegal riverbed mining
Human-to-human spread a mutation away
CANADA IN mid-November confirmed its first human case of avian influenza, with a teenager in the British Columbia being hospitalised after contracting the H5N1 virus that causes the disease. The patient developed a severe form of the disease, also called bird flu, and had respiratory issues. There was no known cause of transmission.
True rehabilitation
Residents of Madhya Pradesh's Kakdi village take relocation as an opportunity to undertake afforestation, develop sustainable practices
INESCAPABLE THREAT
Chemical pollution is the most underrated and underreported risk of the 21st century that threatens all species and regions
THAT NIGHT, 40 YEARS AGO
Bhopal gas disaster is a tragedy that people continue to face
A JOKE, INDEED
A CONFERENCE OF IRRESPONSIBLE PARTIES THAT CREATED AN OPTICAL ILLUSION TO THE REALITY OF A NEW CLIMATE
THINGS FALL APART
THE WORLD HAS MADE PROGRESS IN MITIGATING EMISSIONS AND ADAPTING TO CLIMATE IMPACTS. BUT THE PROGRESS REMAINS GROSSLY INADEQUATE
