Abstract |
Finance in agriculture is as important as development of technologies. Technical inputs can be purchased and used by farmer only if he has money (funds). But his own money is always inadequate and he needs outside finance or credit. Professional money lenders were the only source of credit to agriculture till 1935. They use to charge unduly high rates of interest and follow serious practices while giving loans and recovering them. As a result, farmers were heavily burdened with debts and many of them perpetuated debts. There were widespread discontents among farmers against these practices and there were instances of riots also. With the passing of Reserve Bank of India Act 1934, District Central Co-op. Banks Act and Land Development Banks Act, agricultural credit received impetons and there were improvements in agricultural credit. A powerful alternative agency came into being. Large-scale credit became available with reasonable rates of interest at easy terms, both in terms of granting loans and recovery of them. |