Rationale for the index
According to a current research by Nabard, greater than 60% of the ‘very high’ and ‘high’ misery small and marginal farmers didn’t get mortgage waiver advantages within the final a few years.
In Maharashtra, for example, greater than 42% of such farmers haven’t been eligible for mortgage waivers. Even in Uttar Pradesh, 47% farmers are disadvantaged of mortgage waiver profit.
On the opposite hand, sugarcane farmers from Maharashtra and UP obtained advantages of mortgage waivers, though they possessed irrigated land and loved value assist.
Farmers with largely non-irrigated lands who develop lower-value crops particularly these which aren’t procured by the federal government at minimal assist costs have little entry to the monetary system.
Key components of the index
The index will combine excessive frequency knowledge on climate circumstances, weather conditions, debt burden on farmers, agricultural commodities and the market.
It would measure variables equivalent to monsoon rains, extreme rainfalls, drought and dry spells, variations in temperature and soil moisture, yield of main crops in every district, space below irrigation, depth of underground water and strange frost. Marketing alternatives accessible to the farmer together with MSP assist will even be assessed.
The index will even have a metrics on the prevailing degree of debt burden of the farmers, their entry to crop insurance coverage.
Benefits
Based on the severity of misery, the federal government and lenders can present a mix of unconditional grants, crop mortgage restructuring or full debt waivers. The help to particular person farmers might be primarily based on a mix of district index and particular person farmers’ misery measured through irrigation standing of his land, revenue from crops grown by him, common productiveness of the district and the common value in Agricultural Produce Market Committee (APMC) markets of the district as in comparison with the common value of the state.
Such an index may help policymakers in not simply predicting but additionally monitoring farmer misery. Timely monitoring of misery would assist in formulating mitigation measures. Instead of focusing simply on the facet of crop damages, the index would offer a extra holistic view of farmer misery.
HIGHLIGHTS:
-The UPA authorities on the Centre introduced a Rs 60,000-crore mortgage waiver scheme for farmers in 2008
-13 states have rolled out farm mortgage waiver schemes since 2012-13
-Uttar Pradesh applied a Rs 36,000-crore mortgage waiver in 2019
-Maharashtra introduced a Rs 30,000-crore scheme in 2017
Source: www.financialexpress.com”