Rajasthan govt to draft new law to stop auction of small farmers' land

The Rajasthan government will draft a new bill in a month to stop the auction of land belonging to small and marginal farmers, an official said on Tuesday.
 

The official said that a loan relief commission would be set up once the law comes into force.
 

Small and marginal farmers, landless labourers and farmers of weaker sections often have to face problems due to burden of loans. To provide relief from loan burden and stop the auction of their land, Rajasthan Farmers Loan Relief Act will be brought and a commission will be set up, Principal Secretary (Cooperative) Shreya Guha said.
 

In a departmental meeting organised in connection with the implementation of the budget announcement 2023-24 on Tuesday, Guha directed the officials that the Rajasthan Farmers Loan Relief Act should be prepared within a month.
 

She directed the registrar cooperative to form a committee immediately in this regard.
 

She said in a statement that in 2023-24, an interest-free crop loan of Rs 22,000 crore is to be distributed to the farmers of the state.
 

She said interest-free loans worth Rs 3,000 crore will be distributed to 1.50 lakh people through cooperative banks in rural areas for non-agricultural sectors such as handicrafts, small-scale industries, spinning-weaving, dyeing-printing, and shops.
 

Guha said that all the 7,282 Primary Agricultural Credit Society (PACS) in the state are to be computerised. In the first phase, 1963 PACS have been selected.
 

She said that in order to increase the storage capacity of the cooperative societies, instructions have been given to present the action plan after selecting the societies for the construction of godowns in purchase and sale cooperative societies and village service cooperative societies.