Maharashtra govt extends farm loan waiver to 2001

MUMBAI: The state cabinet on Tuesday gave its approval to extend the loan waiver scheme to farmers who have defaulted on loans since 2001. The previous cut-off was 2009.
This was one of the main demands of the farmers who had participated in the ‘long march’ from Nashik to Mumbai last month.

Nearly 3.5 lakh farmers would benefit from the cabinet decision that would put a burden of Rs 3,149 crore on the government, said state officials.

“It is a historic decision taken by the cabinet,” said chief minister Devendra Fadnavis.

The total budget for the farm loan scheme is Rs 34,000 crore. Till date, Rs 15,000 crore has been disbursed to more than 37 lakh farmers. Nearly 46.5 lakh farmers were found to be eligible for the scheme, of which 30.4 lakh applied for full loan waiver, while nearly 16.1 lakh applied for the incentive amount.

Farmers who lost out in 2008-09 to benefit

The decision will benefit farmers, mostly from Vidarbha, who did not get loan waiver relief in 2008 and 2009 because the then Congress-NCP government had set a land ownership cap of 2 hectares for a farmer to be eligible. Many farmers from Vidarbha, where the land-holding capacity is higher, had been left out. The new eligible 3.5 lakh farmers will have to submit an undertaking from their bank stating that they have not availed of a loan waiver previously.

The last date of application for farm loan waiver is May 1, but after the cabinet decision, the deadline will be extended, said officials.

State officials said the cabinet has also decided to include term loans given for poly houses, shed nets and emu farming. “The government is yet to seek applications for term loans and the number of beneficiaries and the amount that will be required is yet to be calculated,” said an official. He clarified that if a farmer has already availed the Rs 1.5 lakh as crop loan waiver, he will not be able to avail the benefit of term loan waiver.

In March, farmers, mostly tribals, walked over 180km from Nashik to Mumbai for a week in the scorching heat to demand extension of the cutoff for the farm loan waiver scheme, implementation of the Forest Rights Act and allotment of the land strips that the tribals had been tilling for decades in their name.