Ranchi, Aug 7 (PTI) The Jharkhand cabinet on Wednesday decided to widen the farm loan waiver scheme by increasing the limit of credit from Rs 50,000 to Rs 2 lakh, an official said.

The proposal was approved during a meeting of the cabinet, chaired by Chief Minister Hemant Soren.

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"The cabinet approved the proposal to increase the limit of farm loan waiver from Rs 50,000 to Rs 2 lakh. The cut-off date for this will be March 31, 2020," Cabinet Secretary Vandana Dadel said.

It will benefit around 1.91 lakh farmers, an Agriculture Department official said.

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In 2021-22, the state government announced a waiver of crop loans up to Rs 50,000. The government has waived loans up to Rs 50,000 of more than 4.73 lakh farmers, and given over Rs 1,900 crore to banks, he said.

A total of 37 proposals were cleared by the cabinet.

Among them was the proposal to amend the 'Jharkhand Karyapalika Niyamawali 2000' to transfer all matters related to the central agencies to the Department of Cabinet Secretariat and Vigilance.

The cabinet also gave nod to the proposal of doubling the monthly honorarium of village heads of tribal villages.

Dadel said the honorarium of Manki-Mundas was increased to Rs 6,000 per month from Rs 3,000. The gram pradhans will receive Rs 4,000 per month instead of Rs 2,000, while the honorarium of Dakuas was increased to Rs 2,000 per month from Rs 1,000.

The cabinet also approved the proposal of slashing the fare of state-operated air ambulance service by up to 50 per cent.

The existing one-way fare from Ranchi to Delhi, which is Rs 5 lakh, has been reduced to Rs 3.10 lakh.

"The fare was slashed in view of benefiting people," Dadel said.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)