RELIEF MEASURES BY BANKS IN AREAS AFFECTED BY NATURAL CALAMITIES

It is recognised that declaration of a natural calamity is in the domain of the Central / State Government

- Vikas Mahangare

Natural Calamity: 

The inputs received from the State Governments revealed that there is no uniform procedure being followed for declaration of a natural calamity and issue of declarations/certificates. These declarations/certificates are called by different names such as Annewari, Paisewari, Girdawari, etc. in different States. Nevertheless, the common thread to extend relief measure towards agricultural loans including rescheduling of loans by banks, is that the crop loss assessed should be 33% or more. For assessing this loss, while some States are conducting crop cutting experiments to determine the loss in crop yield, some others are relying on the eye estimates/ visual impressions.

In case of extreme situations such as wide-spread floods, when it is largely evident that most of the standing crops have been damaged and/or land and other assets have suffered a wide-spread damage, the matter shall be deliberated by State Government/District Authorities in a specially convened SLBC/DCC meeting where the concerned Government functionary/District Collector shall explain the reasons for not estimating 'Annewari' (percentage of crop loss by whatever name called) through crop cutting experiments and that the decision to provide relief for the affected populace needs to be taken based on the eye estimate/visual impressions.

Types of natural calamities:

As per RBI guidelines, 12 types of natural calamities on relief measures by banks in areas affected by natural calamities: 

i. Cyclone

ii. Drought

iii. Earthquake

iv. Fire

V. Flood

vi. Tsunami

vii. Hailstorm

viii. Landslide

ix. Avalanche

X. Cloud Burst

xi. Pest Attack

xii. Cold Wave/Frost

Relief measures by banks in areas affected by natural calamities:

Restructuring of Existing Loans: