CAG'S REPORT ON FARM LOAN WAIVER SCHEME TABLED IN PARLIAMENT
• Finds prima facie evidence of tampering, overwriting and alteration of records.
• Around 8.51,'% ineligible farmers given benefit, 13.5% of real ones left out.
The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) in a report tabled in Parliament on March 5, 2013 finds very many shortcomings in the centre's farm loan waiver scheme. The report says that several ineligible farmers were favoured and a large number of deserving small and marginal farmers were left out in the implementation of the UPA's (United Progressive Alliance) much-touted Rs. 52,000 crore farm loan waiver scheme.
• According to the CAG, around 8.5% of the beneficiaries were not eligible.
• Benefits extended for loans not covered under the scheme such as personal loan, vehicle loans.
• The CAG report raises serious concerns about the implementation of the scheme.
• Microfinance institutions given benefits in violation of the debt waiver guidelines.
Action
After the draft CAG report, the department of finance services, had instructed banks to register cases against erring officials.
The scheme, meant to help indebted farmers in districts where suicides occur, was so hephazard and faulty in implementation that no records were maintained on farmers' applications accepted or rejected by the lend-ing institutions or how many farmers were given fresh loans as a result of debt waiver/relief, the report says. The Agriculture Debt Waiver and Debt Relief Scheme (ADWDRS) was launched in Vidarbha by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in May 2008. Initially, it was launched in Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and Kerala, where suicide by farmers peaked in 2008. It was estimated that 3.69 crore small and marginal farmers and about 0.60 crore other farmers would benefit from the scheme and become eligible for fresh loan. According to the CAG, the monitoring of the scheme was 'deficient'. There was even prima facie evidence of tampering, overwriting and alteration of records.
Bank's Claims
In certain cases, the lending institutions, such as banks claimed from the government charges such as interest in excess of principal amount, unapplied interest, penal interest, legal charges, inspection charges and miscellaneous charges, all of which they themselves should have borne. "Out of 9,334 accounts tests checked in audit across nine States, 1,257 (13.46 per cent) were found to be eligible for benefits, but were not considered by the lending institutions", the report says.
In violation of guidelines, a private scheduled commercial bank received reimbursement for loans to the tune of T 164,60 crore extended to micro finance institutions.
Besides, the Department of Financial Services (DFS) under the Ministry of Finance, which implemented the scheme, accepted the reimbursement claims of the RBI in respect of urban cooperative banks, amounting to Z 335.62 crore, despite the fact that even the total number of beneficiaries' accounts was not indicated. The CAG observed that in the absence of monitoring of the scheme, lending institutions did not issue debt waiver/ relief certificates to eligible beneficiaries. Nor was acknowledgement sought from farmers making them eligible for fresh loans.
0 comments:
Post a Comment