Maharashtra farm loan waiver: Individuals made eligible for scheme, move to cost state additional Rs 1,000 cr

The Maharashtra government will write off Rs 1.5 lakh debt of each individual who has taken farm loan, provided he/she clears the rest of the dues in advance, it was announced in the Legislative Council on Friday. Till now, a family was considered as one unit eligible for the waiver, offered under the government’s scheme titled Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Shetkari Sanman Yojana. The scheme was announced in June last year. [caption id=“attachment_4786471” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Representational image. Reuters[/caption] According to sources, the move, which is expected to benefit five lakh farmers, is likely to put a burden of an additional Rs 1,000 crore on the governments coffers. “Till now, a family was considered as eligible for the waiver of Rs 1.5 lakh, provided it cleared remaining debt in advance,” co-operation minister Subhash Deshmukh said in the Council. “Now, an individual will be eligible for the waiver, provided he/she clears his/her dues in advance,” he added. A similar announcement was earlier made in the Legislative Assembly. Firstpost has extensively reported on the challenges in the implementation of the Maharashtra farm loan waiver since it was announced on 24 June last year. Following are some of the reports from the series on the loan waiver— Maharashtra farm loan waiver still leaves many in the lurch, 38 lakh farmers yet to receive benefits of scheme 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 horror: Banks hired students to enter farmer data, leading to errors, risking breach 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 With inputs from PTI