Firstpost's Sanjay Sawant wins award from Mumbai Marathi Patrakar Sangh for coverage of Maharashtra farm loan waiver

Firstpost’s comprehensive coverage of the Maharashtra farm loan waiver has been given recognition from the Mumbai Marathi Patrakar Sangh, with bureau chief Sanjay Sawant winning an award from the journalist body. [caption id=“attachment_4279427” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Firstpost bureau chief Sanjay Sawant. Image courtesy: Facebook[/caption] Sawant won the ‘Navsandeshkar Ramesh Bhogte Smruti’ Award for ‘Best Political Reporting’ on Maharashtra’s farm loan waiver scheme. The award will be presented on 6 January, 2018, at Patrakar Bhavan in Mumbai by educationist Raosaheb Kasbe, according to an official statement from the journalist body. Narendra Wabale, head of the Mumbai Marathi Patrakar Sangh, said, “This is the first time that a reporter from a digital platform has won this award.” Sawant has reported extensively on various facets of the implementation of the loan waiver scheme, including mismatches in data, bungling by banks, resultant transfers of officials and reactions of prominent political leaders. Following are some the reports in the series— Farm loan waivers, Aadhaar linking and the role of MahaOnline: Maharashtra IT secretary's claims debunked Fadnavis govt junks Aadhaar, dines with the devil (banks), gets loan waiver Assembly-ready, but crisis far from over Senior bureaucrat VK Gautam shunted to finance in fallout over Maharashtra government's bungled loan waiver scheme Maharashtra loan waiver: How banks undid Fadnavis' pet plan, forcing him to delink Aadhaar from disbursal Maharashtra farm loan waiver: One month after scheme's implementation, 77 lakh farmers still in the dark