BIZ-FADNAVIS-FARMLOAN-WAIVER

Maharashtra has managed to save

Rs 12,000 crore in farm loan waiver alone by adopting a

digital platform that helped eliminate bogus claimants, Chief

Minister Devendra Fadnavis said here Sunday.

The state had, in June 2017, announced a farm loan

waiver worth Rs 34,022 crore amid rising incidents of farmer

suicides due to crop failures or falling prices and rising

input costs.

The scheme made each farmer with a debt of up to Rs

1.5 lakh eligible for the write-off. Maharashtra was following

other states like UP, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh among others.

"Our farm loan waiver scheme was executed on a

digital platform and by that we could save Rs 12,000 crore

just because of digital intervention. Had it been the regular

way, we would have ended up paying Rs 12,000 crore more to

the people and that is the power of digitisation," he said at

an industry event organised by corporate lobby CII, without

offering any details.

He further said the state is launching a programme

which is a virtual life cycle management for every farmer.

"From sowing to harvesting, everything will be managed

through a digital platform and that will give advantage to

farmers to make this sector more sustainable, predictable," he

said, adding it will be launched Monday.

Fadnavis further said the state has collaborated with

the World Economic Forum for Fourth Industrial Revolution and

has started pilot project to introduce drones in agriculture.

"We are trying to make agriculture more

precision-oriented so that we bring down the cost, make it

predictable and connect farmers directly to technology," he

said.

The state aims to cover all the villages under its

broadband connectivity programme by the end of this year.

"As part of Bharat Net, we have started our Maha Net,

which has already reached out to 60 percent of our targeted

villages and by the end of this year we will be reaching rest

of the villages. Hopefully our fibre will reach every single

village. And with this robust connectivity, we will

empower every single citizen to leverage on digital governance

and digital economy," he said.

He further said his government's Aple Sarkar Service

Kendra has also provided internet access to villages.