SC stays Madras High Court's order waiving crop loans for Tamil Nadu farmers

The Supreme Court has stayed the Madras High Court’s order on waiving off loans for farmers in Tamil Nadu, as per an ANI tweet:

Supreme Court stays Madras HC order waiving off loan to farmers in Tamil Nadu.

— ANI (@ANI) July 3, 2017

According to CNN News 18, the High Court, in its April order, had asked the Tamil Nadu government to waive farm loans for all farmers, instead of limiting the benefit only to those owning less than five acres of land. The Hindu reported that a bench led by Justice Madan B Lokur stayed the High Court order in a short hearing. The report further mentioned that the government argued that the waiver would benefit small and marginal farmers with land below five acres. These farmers had taken crop loans from co-operative banks and societies. [caption id=“attachment_3770975” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Farmers in the Tamil Nadu protests, Reuters[/caption] The loan waiver meant that an additional 300,000 farmers will become eligible for the financial scheme. The burden then on the state exchequer increased from Rs 5,780 crore to Rs 7769.33 crore, as reported by The Indian Express. “The land holding register and the loan register maintained by the banks do not necessarily reflect the actual land ownership. A farmer might have shown land details only for which he is seeking a loan,” the court reportedly said, as per The Indian Express. The loan waiver was notified by the Cooperation, Food and Consumer Protection Department on 23 and 25 May, 2016. The financial scheme was part of the AIADMK’s election manifesto, as reported by The Hindu. Tamil Nadu farmers have been protesting for farm loan waivers and drought relief packages since early this year, as mentioned in a previous _Firstpost_ article. The report states that the farmers were protesting since 14 March. A memorandum of their demands was also submitted to the Prime Minister’s Office. The farmers began fresh protests in Delhi on 19 May when a group of farmers caught the attention of the nation with bizarre forms of protests to stress on their grievances, ranging from debt to drought and suicides to scarcity.