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Title: Need to introduce Central Agricultural Debt Relief Legislation for providing debt relief to farmers.
SHRI K. FRANCIS GEORGE (IDUKKI):The Kerala Agricultural Debt Relief Bill was presented in the Kerala Legislative Assembly in its last session. The Bill aims to provide Relief to farmers affected by crisis in the agricultural sector, resulting in their inability to repay agricultural loans availed by them. This State legislation cannot bring the Nationalized Banks under its ambit, there by limiting its effectiveness, as a large number of farmers avail loans from Nationalised Banks.
As farmers in various States of the country are in distress, a Central legislation for providing debt relief to farmers will be more relevant and useful to the country as a whole.
I request the Government to introduce a Central Agricultural Debt Relief legislation at the earliest.