Loan waiver to farmers was provided by the Central Government under Agricultural Debt Waiver and Debt Relief Scheme (ADWDRS), 2008.

Under the scheme, direct agricultural loans disbursed by Scheduled Commercial Banks, Local Area Banks, Cooperative Credit Institutions and Regional Rural Banks between 1st April, 1997 to 31st March, 2007 to farmers, which were overdue as on 31st December, 2007 and remained unpaid upto 29th February, 2008 were eligible for Debt Waiver/Debt Relief.

While ‘Small and Marginal Farmers’ were entitled to cent per cent debt waiver, ‘Other Farmers’ were given a rebate of 25 per cent of eligible amount, subject to the condition that the farmer pays the balance of 75 per cent.

As many as 3.73 crore farmers were benefitted to the extent of Rs. 52,259.86 crore.

This information was given by the Minister of State for Finance, Shri Namo Narain Meena in written reply to a question in Lok Sabha today.

Agricultural debt waiver provided tiered relief to eligible farmers with full waiver for small holders and conditional rebates for others. The ADWDRS, 2008 covered direct agricultural loans disbursed by Scheduled Commercial Banks, Local Area Banks, Cooperative Credit Institutions and Regional Rural Banks between 1 April 1997 and 31 March 2007 that were overdue as on 31 December 2007 and unpaid up to 29 February 2008; small and marginal farmers received full debt waiver while other farmers received a 25% rebate conditional on payment of the balance 75%.