85 per cent Andhra Pradesh farmers ineligible for loan waiver

Hyderabad: The burden of farm loans waiver on the Andhra Pradesh government has come down to around Rs 20,000 crore, while the total number of eligible farmers’ accounts fell by 50 per cent after verification by banks.

The 1.05 crore farmers’ accounts came down to 15 lakh after family members were grouped. The loan waiver, which would have cost Rs 87,612 crore, came down to Rs 20,000 crore.

In AP, there are 1.05 crore farmers’ bank accounts. After deletion of term loans, horticulture loans and others, the total number of accounts came down to 80 lakh.  

To identify eligible farmers, the banks have followed a three-step verification process.

First, banks verified the accounts with the State Residence Data Hub, that is linking the accounts with Aadhaar cards. Second, is the civil supplies data base which meant  verification of family details with ration cards. The last is land verification, which means verification of land details like survey numbers with revenue records.

In all three  stages of verification, the farmers’ accounts should tally and only then will be they be eligible for waiver.

Fifty per cent of the accounts were deemed ineligible after these tests.  Finally, the total number of eligible farmers’ accounts has come down to around 40 lakh.

After the finalisation of the eligible list farmers’ family members, bank accounts will be grouped. According to Andhra Pradesh’s finance department, in every family, a minimum of three members have separate bank accounts. After grouping the total number of families eligible, the number declined by around 13 lakhs or waiver of farm loans will come down by around 13 to 15 lakh.