Key Details of the Scheme:
- Goal: Help 750,000 farmers in remote areas get loans for crops, livestock, and fisheries.
- Loan Terms: Up to Rs3 million per farmer (12-18 month repayment).
- Government Support:
- 10% loss coverage for banks on new loans.
- Rs10,000 per borrower subsidy to banks for outreach.
- Budget: Rs37.5 billion allocated from FY27-FY31.
Controversy:
- Currently only farmers in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) and Balochistan qualify.
- Punjab/Sindh small farmers are excluded despite being major agricultural provinces.
- ECC members called this unfair and worry large landowners might misuse the scheme.
ECC’s Directive:
- State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) must revise eligibility rules to include Punjab/Sindh.
- SBP and Finance Division to submit a revised proposal addressing these concerns.
Next Steps:
Final approval depends on fixing the provincial exclusion issue. the user has shared multiple news articles and asked for simplified rewrites of each in under 300 words. This appears to be a compilation of current events from Pakistan covering various topics – politics, economics, health, infrastructure, and more. Looking at the pattern, the user seems to be curating or processing news content, possibly for educational purposes, content summarization, or accessibility needs. The articles are all dated July 2025, suggesting they’re recent developments. The latest request is about Pakistan’s Economic Coordination Committee approving an agricultural risk scheme while questioning its exclusion of Punjab and Sindh farmers. Key points to simplify:- ECC approved Rs37.5 billion agriculture risk coverage scheme- But raised concerns about excluding small farmers from Punjab/Sindh- Currently only covers Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan- Scheme aims to bring 750,000 new borrowers into banking system- Provides 10% loss coverage for banks and Rs10,000 per borrower subsidy- ECC wants eligibility criteria reviewed before final approval The challenge will be condensing the financial details and bureaucratic aspects while keeping the core equity concern clear. Should emphasize the “fairness” angle since that’s the committee’s main objection. The agricultural focus (crops, livestock etc.) and loan terms (up to Rs3 million) should be mentioned but kept simple .Noticing the user has consistently received very structured responses with bold headers and bullet points. Will maintain that format for consistency while ensuring the rewrite stays under the strict 300-word limit. The tone should remain neutral but highlight the controversy around provincial exclusion since that’s the news hook.
