Subhash ChanderAnita Rani2020-01-312020-01-312019http://krishikosh.egranth.ac.in/handle/1/5810142224Rural indebtedness has deep roots in India. The mounting burden of rural non-institutional debt has crippled the rural economy. It has constituted a serious threat to economic, social and political problems for the Indian economy. The study of outstanding debt, particular debt owned to different non-institutional sources, assumes special significance in the context of the measures being taken to relieve the rural farmers from the burden of debt owed to the non-institutional sources. It is well-known that a farmer is required to borrow for a variety of reasons to satisfy his immediate needs. The study was conducted in Hisar and Sirsa districts of Haryana on 120 respondents. Four villages were selected randomly from Barwala and Sirsa-1 blocks of Hisar and Sirsa districts with following objective : 1. to assess the nature, extent and sources of non-institutional loans among farmers 2. toanalyze the utilization and repayment pattern of non-institutional loans and 3. to examine the socio-economic and psychological problems faced by farmers. The results of the study revealed that nearly three-fifth of respondents (58.33%) took the loan for increasing the crop production i.e. taking land on lease, land development, purchasing of pesticides and seeds, etc. Three-fourth of the respondents (75.00%) took the non-institutional amount of loan from traders and commission agents at 24.00 per cent rate of interest. On an average, amount of non-institutional loan taken by the respondents from non-institutional sources came out to be Rs. 83,138. Nearly half of the respondents (49.17%) repaid regularly. On the other hand, 10.0 per cent respondents did not repay the loan at all. Overwhelming majority of the respondents (81.67%) utilized the loan for the purpose for which they have taken the loan. Many respondents faced the problems before and after taking the non-institutional amount of loan i.e. decline of income, psychological stress, low agricultural production, problem of over dues, high incidence of anxiety, sleep disturbance and laziness etc. The indebted respondents did not repay due to medical treatment of family members/relatives, low income, crop failure, low yield and money invested on unproductive purposes, etc. It was also suggested that respondents should be motivated to reduce the expenditure on social ceremonies. They should be encouraged to diversify their agricultural economic activities.ennullThesis