Explanation:

Rajasthan government has recently stopped the auction of agricultural land belonging to farmers who failed to repay the loans obtained from commercial banks functioning under the control of Reserve Bank of India (RBI).

The move came after the government had been facing a difficult situation on the waiver of farmers’ debts for a prolonged period.

The issue had taken a political turn after the banks started serving notices on the defaulting farmers.

A large number of defaulting farmers in several districts have received notices, besides facing pressure to make settlement with banks.

The State government had passed a Bill in the Assembly for banning the land auction of farmers having agricultural land up to 5 acres, but the Governor has not yet given his nod. This situation has arisen because the Bill could not become an Act in the absence of the Governor’s assent.

The Bill had sought to amend the Civil Procedure Code for protecting the agriculturists’ land measuring up to 5 acres against attachment and sale in execution of a decree issued by the court in the cases of monetary award.

The state government had recently sent a proposal to the nationalised banks to bring a one-time loan waiver scheme for the State’s farmers on the lines of a scheme introduced by the State Bank of India.

In the said scheme, the agricultural loans, classified as non-performing assets (NPA), were waived.

While 90% of the loans were waived by the bank, the farmers paid the remaining 10%, which the State government was willing to give.