Working Group Report on - Haryana Kisan Ayog

within one year period. Therefore, it calls for a simplified procedure for grantingshort term loans, to the farmers, especially against their produce at concessional 3-4% interest rates, ensuring availability of credit at low interest ratesHassle free credit provisionsAccording to present procedure, the entire land of a farmer has to be mortgaged ascollateral security for taking the loan from the financial institutions. This proceduredeprives him from a chance to apply for another loan, when needed. To overcomethis problem, the mortgage of land should be regulated as per the value of land andamount of loan requested by the farmers.4.4. Policy Issues and OptionsComprehensive Fisheries and Aquaculture Development Policy for HaryanaDeveloping a comprehensive and enabling fisheries and aquaculture developmentpolicy for Haryana, addressing all issues, through a consultative process followed byappropriate legislative reforms and budgetary provisions for all the programssuggested herein shall be put in place. This would create a more conduciveenvironment for development. This shall be followed by replacing the existingFisheries Acts in the State with new comprehensive Act modelled on the Centre’sModel Bill on Inland Fisheries and Aquaculture and the recommendations given inthis report.Aquaculture on par with agricultureAs discussed elsewhere, aquaculture is not being treated fully at par with agriculturewith respect to water charges, electricity tariff, farm loan interest, cargo charges andincome tax exemptions. Water and energy charges for fish farming are much higher(almost 4 times) than those for agriculture use by farmers. Aquaculture is allied toagriculture and hence needs to be treated at par with agriculture in terms of credit,taxation of income, energy charges, water tariff and land allocation owing to similarcharacteristics of the two sectors (primary, rural and small scale), resource usepattern and its importance in providing food and livelihood to the rural poor.There is also a need to remove double taxation of Panchayat water bodies forfisheries wherein lease rent is being paid to Panchayats after competitive bidding( 43 )