Like urban credit cards, agri-cards will allow farmers to straightaway withdraw cash up to a certain amount for a given period, thereby ensuring ready and timely availability of money to suit his needs as a cultivator.

But the similarity ends there. Officials of the ministry of agriculture, who are finalising the modalities of the scheme, say the credit ceiling will depend on the size of the farmer's holding and his requirements for the particular crop he proposes to grow. It will be fine-tuned to local needs.

``So it's desirable that it be in the shape of a passbook or passport that may take into account other requisite information pertaining to cultivation of his land,'' say the officials, noting that it differs from the ongoing schemes in that it ensures``availability as also repayability'' at the borrower's convenience. The rate of interest will not be lower than 12 per cent.

The scheme will be helpful in two ways as small holders will also be able to get credit hitherto denied to them by regional rural banks or co-operative societies -- because all of them demand some kind of security or the other, says NC Joshi, former reader at Delhi University.

``The credit card would also try to simplify the loan process,'' says Joshi noting that it might also reduce the scope of manipulations to some extent.

While officials say half the rural credit is still in the hands of the local moneylender, economists estimate it to be more than 70 per cent and many a time the moneylender is the big farmer or landlord himself.

There are about 110 million farmers in India with nearly 70 per cent of them small and marginal ones who mainly cultivate land on contract for the non-cultivators, notes KN Kabra of the Indian Institute of Public Administration.

The schemecannot succeed unless small and local farmers' committees are properly represented, says Kabra noting that credit planning has to be associated with the production plans of blocks at the local level.

According to him, the scheme still doesn't take into account the ground realities. ``It's like catching the wrong end of the stick,'' he says.

The own holdings of small farmers are very small and would not suffice all their credit needs so they would still be dependent on the big farmer, who is also the moneylender and finally the buyer of the produce, explains Kabra.

According to him, the model of grameen banks in Bangladesh or the micro-credit schemes where in they pool in their holdings and stand guarantee for others would have been a better option.

``Let there be genuine groups and credits worked on real needs,'' he says noting that institutional credit so far has actually landed them in more trouble.

Kabra quotes a study by HS Shergill on Punjab to point that even mediocre farmers not in need ofmechanisation bought tractors on loan for their small holdings and got trapped in debts they weren't able to finance.

Officials, however, argue that the scheme has its origin in similar schemes offered by rural branches of commercial banks and it has worked successfully in states like Kerala.

Several commercial nationalised banks have been offering the scheme since the early 80s' and it has been implemented in progressive states like West Bengal for farmers going in for growing vegetables, fruits and short-duration crops where the returns come in fast and can be returned soon, they say.

Rules and rights of the farmers on the agri-cards will have to be defined to clear all doubts of the farmers, they say.

Refusing to be drawn into any controversy over the credits again going into the hands of those who actually don't need them, the officials said the cards would be ``restricted'' to cultivators only.

While official sources say that the scheme would most probably be introduced in western UP, Haryanaand Punjab, Joshi notes that these simply aren't the areas where the farmers are in dire need.

Says Kabra, ``The big farmer doesn't need the credit. The viable educated farmers have the means to arrange from the institutions. The poor and marginal farmers -- and they are in majority -- might not get the benefits.

``Even if they are allowed to consume all that they produce and ensure food security for them, these poor cultivators would slowly get educated and solve their social problems.''

Any state scheme, notes Kabra, will have to tackle these problems if it really aims at bettering their lot.