Around eight lakh farmers in Assam are yet to be covered under the Kisan Credit Card (KCC) scheme which was introduced by the Centre in 1998 to provide short-term loans to farmers during cropping season.

Assam has about 27 lakh agricultural households spread over 26,000 villages, which are covered by about 1,800 rural and semi-urban commercial and regional rural banks.

Assam finance minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Wednesday said only about 19 lakh families have been covered under the KCC so far and there is a clear gap of about eight lakh KCCs that has to be provided to the farmers.

“With the objective of engaging the farmers with the banking sector, the state cabinet on Monday approved three schemes — credit subsidy, interest relief and incentives — which would cost Rs 1,000 crore to the state exchequer,” Sarma said.

The schemes are a testimony to the state government’s “small” tribute to the memory of the 140 farmers who sacrificed their lives during the Patharughat uprising in central Assam’s Darrang district in 1894, he said.

“The Assam Farmers’ Credit Subsidy Scheme, which aims at waiving off loan up to 25 per cent with a cap of Rs 25,000, will cost Rs 500 crore to the state exchequer. The scheme will cover all short term crop loans for kharif, rabi and short term loans for plantation crops like tea and rubber availed between April 1 this year and March next year. The scheme was announced in the state budget,” Sarma said.

Assam Farmers’ Interest Relief Scheme, through which the state government will waive off four per cent interest paid by the farmers against the loan taken under KCC, will cost Rs 200 crore to the state exchequer. “The interest rate on KCC loans is seven per cent. Three per cent of it is already borne by the Centre. Now, we will pay the remaining four per cent with the aim of making farm loan interest-free,” Sarma said.

The Assam Farmers’ Incentives Scheme, through which the state government will pay a one-time cash incentive of upto Rs 10,000 for activating inactive KCC accounts, will have a Rs 300 crore burden on the exchequer.

Sarma said the state government aims to launch these schemes in the second week of January and will drive an intensive KCC campaign fortnight with the support of Nabard to enroll new farmers for KCC cards and improve the agricultural credit linkage in the state.