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The government has streamlined lending norms in schemes such as the Kisan Credit Card to boost institutional credit flow to small and marginal farmers who make up over 90% of people engaged in agriculture and, as a class, are highly vulnerable to risks. The aim is to cut their dependence on usurious informal private lenders. Under revised guidelines, standard security requirements, such as hypothecation of crops, now do not apply to loans of up to Rs1 lakh. The change is also applicable to loans taken through the Kisan Credit Card, which allows land-holding farmers to meet short-term credit requirements.