J&K State Level Bankers Committee (SLBC) Steering Committee meeting was held today at J&K Bank Corporate Headquarters. The committee met under the chairmanship of Dr. Haseeb Drabu, Chairman of the J&K Bank and Convenor J&K SLBC, to review the progress in implementation of Agriculture Debt Waiver/ Debt Relief Scheme-2008. Government of India has issued instructions to the Banks for operationalizing the scheme which include formation of State Level Steering Committees for monitoring the day-to-day progress in implementation of the Scheme. Banks have been advised to short-list the beneficiaries under the scheme and finalize the claims for waiver/ relief within the shortest time line ending on 30th of June, 2008. The meeting was attended by Regional Director, RBI, NABARD, and major banks operating in the State including Jammu and Kashmir Bank, which has the largest network and highest outstanding agriculture credit in the State. Agriculture Debt Waiver and Debt Relief Scheme-2008 is being implemented with all seriousness in the J&K State and its progress is being monitored on day to day basis at the highest level. It may not be out of place to mention here that Jammu and Kashmir Bank alone has about 50% share in the total outstanding credit to Agriculture as on 31.3.2008, which was highlighted in today's deliberations. After reviewing the progress, instructions were given to the banks for gearing up the efforts of providing waivers and relief to the farmers as per the parameters defined in the Scheme and as per the operational guidelines issued in this regard. The banks were also advised to prepare and report daily position of the eligible cases and submit the reports in this regard to the monitoring agencies.