Loan waiver conditions may be eased: Sonia

Appropriate measures were likely to be taken by the Union Government to relax the two hectare cap to benefit more farmers under the ambitious Rs 60,000 crore (Rs 600 billion) loan waiver scheme, Congress President Sonia Gandhi said on Monday.

"I am hopeful that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Finance Minister P Chidambaram will take appropriate steps considering the problems of farmers in different regions of the country," Gandhi said while addressing a farmers' rally in Osmanabad in the Marathwada region.

Gandhi said after the Budget many sections felt that the benefits should be granted to farmers having larger land holdings in regions like Vidarbha and Marathwada, where farmers' suicides have been witnessed in the past years.

"This issue was raised in Parliament by many MPs including Rahul Gandhi to extend the benefits and therefore I hope that the government will take appropriate steps," Gandhi said, in a reference to the recent speech made by her son and AICC General Secretary.