Govt exploring means to extend Kisan Credit Card to fishermen not having own boats
Jul 08, 2022
New Delhi [India], July 8 : The Department of Fisheries under the Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying is exploring various possibilities to extend Kisan Credit Card to fishermen who are currently not covered, as they do not own or lease boat or other assets.
States and Union territories are advised by the department to regularly monitor the progress of saturation of eligible fishers and fish farmers under the KCC and also to conduct follow up with the concerned banks for early sanction of the card.
Union Minister of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry, and Dairying minister Parshottam Rupala attended a meeting chaired by Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman to review the progress in the issuance of KCC, with banks.
Rupala said that all banks must follow the guidelines of KCC properly, the due acknowledgment for application should be given to the applicants and a timeline decision on the application should be fixed.
He added that the reasons for rejection should be clearly indicated so that field officers could rectify and re-submit the forms.
In order to attain full saturation of KCC in the country, Rupala suggested that the Kisan Credit Card should be given to poor fishermen and people from Maldhari (Ghumantu) community, who typically do not stay in one place and have no collateral to offer.
The government of India in the Budget for 2018-19 announced the extension of the facility of the Kisan Credit Card (KCC) to fisheries and animal husbandry farmers to help them to meet their working capital needs.
A special drive was organized in 2020 among eligible dairy farmers of Milk Cooperatives and Milk Producer Companies. Before the special drive, only around 30,000 KCCs were sanctioned for Animal Husbandry and Dairying.
More than 50 lakh applications were sourced during the drive, out of which 18.81 lakh fresh KCCs were sanctioned.
