Loans of small and marginal farmers worth Rs 30,000 crore will be written off by the government.
The Maharashtra government has finally bowed down to the demands of farmers and offered loan waiver to them. Farm loans of small and marginal farmers worth Rs 30,000 crore will be written off by the government.
It was moral victory for farmers who had gone on strike last week in support of their demands that included loan waiver, pension and free power. The government was facing immense pressure from opposition parties like Congress and NCP to waive farm loans. A delegation led by Revenue Minister Chandrakant Patil had met Sukanu Samiti a committee of farmers to discuss about the issues faced by them and finally loan waiver decision was taken by the government for providing relief to distressed farmers. The Samiti has deferred its plan to organise protest against the government till July 25. However, they have threatened to intensify their stir if the government fails to deliver its promise to revive agriculture sector. They have also called off rail roko agitation to be held by them on June 13.
Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis tweeted, “We are working to fulfil Munde’s dream of serving the poor. We have announced the biggest-ever loan waiver to give relief to distressed farmers.”
Around 1.07 crore farmers in the state with less than five acre land holding will be eligible for the waiver. The Fadnavis government will soon have a dialogue with the centre to discuss about the implementation of Swaminathan committee recommendations. Steps will also be taken to increase farm income and reduce dependence of farmers on government to bail them out of debt.
Swabhimani Shetkari Sanghatna leader Raju Shetti said, “The government had initially announced that farm loans will be waived of on October 31. Instead we had demanded that they should take this decision with immediate effect as they agreed to our demands. Thus farmers will now be eligible to apply for fresh loans.”
Raghunath Dada Patil a farmers representative said, “The government has taken the right decision to waive farm loans without imposing any conditions. This is a historic step and small and marginal farmers will derive benefit out of it. Even though citizens had to undergo huge inconvenience due to farmers strike but a breakthrough has been achieved.”
Few days back, a committee was formed by Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis under the leadership of Revenue Minister Chandrakant Patil to oversee the hardships faced by farmers. Agricultural Minister Pandurang Fundkar, Minister for co-operation Subhash Deshmukh, State Finance Minister Sudhir Mungantiwar, Water Resources minister Girish Mahajan, State Transport Minister Divakar Raote are included in this committee. The government has also taken a decision to revise milk prices by June 20.
The loan waiver will push up states’ fiscal deficit to 2.71% (budgeted: 1.53%) in FY’18 of gross state domestic product (GSDP).
