Balaram

The Government of Odisha launched 1st of its kind scheme, ‘Balaram’ to provide agricultural credit of Rs 1,040 crore to landless farmers facing hardships during COVID 19.
The Scheme is designed in collaboration with National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD).
Two state-run organisations – the Institute on Management of Agricultural Extension and the Agricultural Technology Management Agency (ATMA) – will be the nodal agencies at the state and district levels respectively for implementation of the scheme.
The farmers, who didn’t avail farm credit earlier, will get loans through Joint Liability Groups (JLG) which acts as ‘social collateral’.
Each lender will finance a minimum of 10 JLGs per year.
A JLG consists of five members and a group will get 1. 6 lakhs.
1.40 lakh JLGs will cover seven lakh landless cultivators in two years.