Chief minister Vasundhara Raje shall kick off the farm loan waiver scheme, the biggest sop in poll year, from Banswara. This loan waiver would cost the exchequer Rs 8,000 crore. The scheme is expected to benefit more than 28 lakh farmers in state.

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The farm loan waiver camps will now start from May 31 instead of May 26. The first camp will be held in Banswara where chief minister Vasundhara Raje will give away the certificates to beneficiary farmers. Sources also informed that government has been able to secure a loan of Rs 2,000 crore from the National Co-operative Development Corporation (NCDC) which will clear the way for any financial difficulty in implementation of this scheme. 

A meeting of core group of ministers was held under the chairmanship of chief minister Vasundhara Raje at her residence Thursday morning. It was decided in the meeting that the first camp will be set up at Banswara, which accounts for a large number of beneficiaries under the scheme. Thereafter, farmers in other districts of the state shall also be able to seek benefit under the scheme. There are more than a lakh farmers in Banwara alone.

The Thursday meeting was attended by cooperatives minister Ajay Singh Kilak, Panchayati raj minister Rajendra Rathore, PWD minister Yonus Khan, agriculture minister Prabhulal Saini and former state BJP president Ashok Parnami among others. 

Sources informed that Raje has given the time for the camp to be held at Banswara. The camps were earlier slated for May 26 launch. The pre-camps for these places had also being organized. However, in the meeting held on Thursday the venue and the date has undergone a change, sources said.

Banswara, Dungarpur and Pratapgarh are three districts where a large number of farmers are debt ridden and are unable to repay the loans taken for farming. Pratapgarh and Banswara are considered to be among the district tailing in terms of development and connective in state and account for a sizeable farming population whose only source of livelihood is agriculture. 

The idea of the government is to start with the place where the benefit to the farmers is maximum. By a rough estimate most farmers in these districts shall benefit from the loan waiver scheme. Chief minister Raje had declared onetime loan waiver of up to Rs 50,000 for small and marginal farmers who fall in the overdue and outstanding categories during her budget speech this year.

The Scheme 

28 lakh The number of beneficiaries in state May 31 The first camp would be held Rs 8,000 cr the cost of the budget sop