No credit for small farmers

The M.V. Nair Committee has defined agriculture too broadly, making it easier for banks to avoid riskier lending to the small and marginal farmers.

Despite having only a 15 per cent share in GDP, agriculture still employs more than 60 per cent of India's rural population. The Centre continuously boasts of doubling credit to this sector and providing interest relief of two per cent for prompt payments, and the like. But a look at the Reserve Bank of India statistics on direct credit for farmers during the past five years reveals that there is a fall in actual money going to farmers..................

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