Maharashtra launches scheme to offer personal loans for prisoners

 Maharashtra launches scheme to offer personal loans for prisoners

What is the news :

• Maharashtra government launched a scheme to provide personal loans for prisoners with the aim to improve the living standard of the families of the inmates.
• The Maharashtra State Co-operative Bank will give loans under the scheme up to Rs 50,000 at an interest rate of 7 per cent.
• The scheme will be implemented on a pilot basis at Yerawada Central Jail, Pune.
• Home minister of Maharashtra – Dilip Walse Patil.

About the scheme :

• It is the first innovative loan scheme in the country to get a loan based on the income earned while working in a prison.
• With this, a welfare scheme can come in concrete form and approximately 1,055 prisoners can benefit from the scheme. Many inmates are serving long-term imprisonment.
• Since the majority of these inmates are prominent members of the family, their families may become distraught.
• A feeling in the family that the person who has gone to jail has failed in his family duties.
• In such a situation, providing a loan to a prisoner for the needs of his family would help to increase the family’s sympathy and love for the prisoner and help maintain a healthy family atmosphere.
• Under the scheme, the loan facility will be decided on the basis of the prisoner, prisoner’s loan limit, duration of punishment, possible relief from it, age, estimated annual working day and minimum daily income.
• The loan will not require a guarantor.
• The loan will be given without collateral and only on a personal guarantee.
• The lending bank will be solely responsible for ensuring that the loan amount is used to meet the needs of the family concerned or to pay the fees of their lawyers or for other legal matters.
• In addition, 1 per cent of the amount recovered by the bank from loan repayment will be given annually to the Prisoners’ Welfare Fund.

Maharashtra government’s recently launched scheme:

• In february 2022 of Maharashtra has started implementation of First-of-its-Kind scheme “Majhi Kanya Bhagyashree”.
• Under this Maharashtra Majhi Kanya Bhagyashree Yojana, if the parents of the state get sterilization done within 1 year after the birth of a girl child, then an amount of Rs 50,000 will be deposited by the government in their bank account in the name of the girl child.

About Maharashtra:

• Capital – Mumbai
• Formation Day – 1 May 1960
• Chief Minister – Uddhav Thackeray
• Governor – Bhagat Singh Koshyari.

National parks in Maharashtra :

• Chandoli National Park
• Gugamal National Park
• Nawegaon National Park
• Pench (Jawaharlal Nehru) National Park
• Sanjay Gandhi (Borivali) National Park
• Tadoba National Park

Central government’s scheme for prisoners :

As part of its ‘Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav’, the Centre has taken a big decision to release a certain category of prisoners incarcerated in jails.

The aim of the new scheme is to encourage prisoners who show good conduct in jail.

Here’s all we know about who shall be eligible and what the remission scheme aims at achieving.

Prisoners in India

• According to the National Crime Records Bureau, India had a total of 4,88,511 prisoners lodged in 1,306 jails across the country in 2020. This number was a rise from the previous year which saw 4,81,387 people behind bars.
• The NCRB data also revealed that of the 4,88,511 prisoners, 4,68,395 were male prisoners, 20,046 were female prisoners and 70 were transgender.

Eligibility for Centre’s remission scheme

The Union Cabinet cleared a proposal to release certain category of prisoners incarcerated in jails as part of the ‘Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav’ initiative of the central government.

Sources have said that the government has set a criteria for prisoners who could apply for the remission scheme. Persons involved in some serious crimes will not be able to avail of this scheme.

There are categories of prisoners will be eligible for release. However, all prisoners who avail of this scheme will have had to have had good conduct within the premises of the jail.

1) Women and transgender convicts of 50 years of age and above, who have completed 50 per cent of their total sentence period

2) Male convicts of 60 years of age and above, who have completed half of their total sentence period

3) Physically challenged or specially-abled convicts with 70 per cent disabilities and have completed 50 per cent of their jail term, will be eligible for early release

4) Convicts who are terminally ill and have served two-thirds or 66 per cent of their total jail time would be considered if the medical board certifies their illness

5) Poor prisoners who have completed their sentencing but continue to be behind bars owing to their inability to pay the corresponding fine of their crime will also be considered in this scheme

6) Those at an age between 18-21 years and have no other criminal involvement/case filed against them and they have finished half their sentencing period will also be applicable for the remission scheme

Purpose of this scheme

• It further acts as an incentive for prisoners to maintain good conduct behind bars.
• The special remission scheme isn’t the first of its kind for the Narendra Modi government.
• In July 2018, the Centre had initiated a similar arrangement to mark the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi.
• Under the plan, a number of prisoners were released in three phases — 2 October 2018 (birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi), 10 April, 2019 (anniversary of Champaran satyagraha) and 2 October 2019 (birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi).