Clearing the decks for an end to the ongoing agitation by farmers in the state, the Maharashtra government Sunday June 11,2017 announced a blanket loan waiver, the largest ever, to provide immediate relief to 31 lakh farmers. This is a clear departure from its earlier position that loans of only small and marginal farmers will be considered. The government also agreed to raise the price of milk.
There are 1.36 crore farmers in the state and their loans add up to Rs 1.14 lakh crore but the government estimates that the loan waiver will not exceed Rs 35,000 crore when parameters are introduced to weed out non-farming categories to ensure that genuine farmers reap maximum benefits.
These parameters will ensure that big business houses, professionals or politicians who own large parcels of agriculture land do not avail loan waiver benefits in the name of farmers.
The waiver decision came after a meeting of the core committee led by state Revenue Minister Chandrakant Patil and farmer representatives from Nashik, Ahmednagar, Kolhapur, Sangli and Pune
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