Kishore Tiwari-headed Task Force on Farmers submitted its report to Maharashtra Government

Maharashtra Government appointed taskforce headed by agriculture expert Kishore Tiwari, on 12 June 2016 submitted its report to Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis.

The taskforce appointed to address agrarian issues has suggested a five-point agenda to bring at least 80 percent of farmers into the institutional credit net.

Recommendations include

• It suggested direct collectors of 14 suicide-prone districts of Vidarbha and Marathwada region to start a crop loan helpline.

• It suggested setting up village and taluka-level crop loan committees comprising of ground staff and sarpanch which will prepare a list of hardships being faced by credit-starved farmers.

• It said, tehsildars, block development officers, taluka agriculture officers and other government and bank officers along with the local MLA should be a part of the committee.

• They should be empowered to take corrective action so that a smooth crop loan disbursement is done.

• All banks should put big flex boards requesting farmers to come for fresh crop loans, and contact numbers of all senior bank officials, the district collector and the VNSSM chairman should be displayed prominently.

• It suggested that the banks which do not comply with government norms of disbursing loans should be sent notice for criminal action and list of such banks should be sent to RBI for further action.

• It said that district collector should appoint a nodal officer for each bank branch who would be required to provide a daily update of crop loan disbursement.

Earlier, Tiwari highlighted the agrarian distress in Vidarbha aggressively through his organisation Vidarbha Jan Andolan Samiti (VJAS) from Pandharkawda in Yavatmal district.

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