Tamil Nadu Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay announced a comprehensive waiver of cooperative farm loans, providing full relief for loans up to Rs 75,000 and partial waivers for higher amounts, benefiting over 1.38 lakh farmers with an additional financial commitment of Rs 953.06 crore.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis announced a significant waiver of approximately Rs 48,000 crore in pending electricity dues for farmers, aiming to facilitate new agricultural power connections and support the state's agricultural sector.
The farm loan waiver scheme may not trigger a tendency among farmers to default intentionally, Amarendra Sahoo, chief general manager, rural planning and credit department, Reserve Bank of India, said on Thursday.
Seeking to allay apprehensions of members on farm loan waiver, Finance Minister P Chidambaram said on Friday 'every' suggestion made on the ambitious scheme was under examination.
With the Opposition targeting the government on alleged irregularities in the farm loan waiver scheme, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Wednesday promised "stringent possible action" against defaulters, if any.
Kumaraswamy, who also holds the finance portfolio, said he has limited the loan amount to Rs 2 lakh, as it was 'not right' to waiver higher value crop loan.
Among the states due for election next year are AP, Haryana and Odisha, which have a fair share of agri credit. If these states individually announced debt relief, the combined waiver would be at least around Rs 600 bn to Rs 700 bn. Clearly, this will be a frightening challenge for Indian banks.
Experts believe that waiving off farmers' loans is not the right solution to their problems. If the government puts this money in developing protected agricultural practices, drip irrigation facilities, creating aggregators for the farmers to play in the Futures market and teach them the modern farming methods, they will manage the rest. Farmers usually don't get loans from banks and have to go to moneylenders. They mortgage not just their land, but also homes and equipments.
Ahead of the last Assembly polls, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi had promised to implement a farm loan waiver scheme in the state if the party came to power.
The Bharatiya Janata Party on Friday termed as "hoax" the government's Rs 60,000 crore (Rs 600 billion) farm loan waiver package, saying the move was just to make political capital as in effect it will put the major burden on future governments.
Karnataka's Deputy Chief Minister G Parameshwara announced that over 200 taluks are likely to be declared drought-affected after phased assessments. The state has convened a special legislative session to discuss the crisis, farmer assistance, and seek significant financial relief and loan waivers from the Union government, while also alleging a "step-motherly attitude" from the Centre regarding fund releases.
Making the announcement, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said this was the "biggest" loan waiver scheme in the country.
Congress President Sonia Gandhi on Monday said that Appropriate measures were likely to be taken by the Government to relax the two hectare cap to benefit more farmers under the ambitious Rs 60,000 crore (Rs 600 billion) loan waiver scheme. She was addressing a farmers' rally in Osmanabad in the Marathwada region. She said after the Budget many sections felt that benefits should be granted to farmers having larger land holdings in regions like Vidarbha & Marathwada regions.
Past experience shows loan waivers benefited only 30% of India's farmers; here again, the richer cultivator skimmed the cream, leaving very little for his poorer brethren.
The government has assured that all suggestions such as raising the land ceiling limit for the waiver will be considered. The loan waiver scheme would also cover all agricultural loans disbursed by private scheduled commercial banks as well. Congress MP Mohsina Kidwai wanted to know whether the government would raise the land ceiling for the waiver to farmers from the existing limit and whether it would come out with a package for the farmers to pay off money lender loans.
This largesse will now be available also to those engaged in agriculture's allied activities like livestock rearing, as also to those who had availed themselves of investment credit for purposes like deepening wells and purchasing tractors.
Congress MP Rahul Gandhi on Thursday made a strong speech in Parliament demanding the widening of the scope of relief granted to farmers through the loan waiver scheme announced by Finance Minister P Chidambaram in the Budget 2008-09.two crucial changes to widen the arc of relief as the party prepares for crucial electoral battles ahead.
Anti-corruption activist Anna Hazare on Sunday claimed to have sufficient proofs of alleged irregularities committed in the farmers' loan waiver scheme of the Centre which was brought out by a Comptroller and Auditor General report recently.
The Congress on Tuesday downplayed the claim that President Pratibha Patil was behind the government's ambitious farm loan waiver scheme, saying inputs for it had come from diverse quarters. Party spokesman Abhishek Manu Singhvi was commenting on a remark by Christy Fernandes, the President's Secretary, that Patil had advised the government to initiate appropriate mechanism by which the plight of the farmers could be addressed.
"We are not in a position to take new responsibilities till the present commitments (Rs 60,000 crore farm loan waiver package) are implemented," Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar said replying to supplementaries in the Lok Sabha. "Let us first implement the farm loan waiver scheme presented in the Budget and see the results," Pawar said noting that more than 81 per cent farmers fall in the small and medium categories which were covered under the package.
BJP MLC Parinay Fuke claimed NCP (SP) MLA Rohit Pawar was considering joining the Congress, citing deteriorating relations with Supriya Sule. In response, Pawar accused Fuke of shielding alleged corruption, particularly concerning illegal sand businesses, paddy procurement issues, and irregularities in an employment guarantee scheme, challenging him to address farmers' concerns instead of making baseless claims.
Amid the buzz over a split in the ranks of Lok Sabha MPs of Shiv Sena-Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray through "Operation Tiger", Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Sunday said the "operation" has been successful. His deputy and Shiv Sena president Eknath Shinde said he never leaves an operation incomplete.
he feels they are prone to misuse by borrowers, including farmers, and suggested a rate ceiling for loans by micro finance lenders.
In his address at a conference of state secretaries, Rajan stressed the need to strengthen state-level coordination committees by ensuring participation, conducting meetings more frequently and sharing quality information among all stakeholders, including state government agencies.
Farm loan waivers should not be regarded as expenditure but as incentive and investment, argues B S Raghavan, the distinguished civil servant.
Beyond the macro data, there has been little enquiry into the profile of the indebted farmer households, says Shailesh Dobhal.
He said farmers need to get good remunerative price for their produce.
Kumaraswamy met representatives of farmers groups and progressive peasants to discuss the problems faced by them.
Finance Minister P Chidambaram on Tuesday told Parliament that the farm debt waiver and relief scheme has benefited 36.4 million farmers and taken care of their Rs 66,477 crore (Rs 664.77 billion) debt burden.
TVK chief Vijay has released his manifesto for the Tamil Nadu Assembly elections, focusing on women's welfare, education, agriculture, and job creation.
13 eminent economists, including former RBI governor Raghuram Rajan and current International Monetary Fund Chief Economist Gita Gopinath, in a report have asked the political establishment not to resort to populist tricks.
Maharashtra minister Chandrashekhar Bawankule denies allegations of owning hundreds of acres of land and announces a defamation suit. He also addresses concerns about housing irregularities and farm loan waivers.
Gandhi said farmers asked him during his Bharat Jodo and Bharat Jodo Nyay yatras about why they were not getting the benefit of loan waivers like billionaire industrialists or MSP (minimum support price) for farm produce.
Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has ordered an immediate stay on the controversial Maharashtra Right to Information (RTI) rules following a backlash from transparency advocates and a hunger strike threat by veteran anti-corruption activist Anna Hazare.
Government banks have demanded that the amount eligible under the farm waiver scheme should continue to be considered lending to the farm sector till the government clears the dues to help banks meet the mandatory priority sector lending target.
MPs, state legislators and government employees will not receive the benefit of loan waiver.
Bank fraud is no longer just an external cyber threat -- insiders with legitimate access can exploit banking systems, trusted credentials and institutional blind spots to quietly siphon money.
Referred to as 'Badlav Patr (document of change)', Congress leader Randeep Surjewala and All India Congress Committee's Bihar in-charge Shakti Sinh Gohil presented the manifesto that promises farm loan waiver and 50 percent subsidy in electricity bills to farmers up to 100 units of consumption. The manifesto also promised that it will reject the Centre's farm laws if voted to power.
The experience of direct cash transfer under PM-Kisan will be useful in designing a larger scheme of DBT for farmers combining all subsidies and support for the agriculture sector in the future, say Ramesh Chand & SK Srivastava.
A case has been registered against Maharashtra BJP minister Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil and 53 others, including directors of a sugar mill, for allegedly obtaining loans of nearly Rs 9 crore in the names of farmers using forged documents. The complaint was filed by a sugarcane cultivator and member of the cooperative sugar mill, alleging that the loan amounts were never credited to the farmers' accounts and were instead siphoned off by sugar mill officials and bank staff. The case was registered based on a court directive following a complaint alleging irregularities that occurred in 2004.
