A day after the Maharashtra government announced a total loan waiver for farmers in the state, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said states keen on setting aside such loans will have to generate funds from their own resources, IANS reported on Monday.
When asked if the Centre will help states with the matter, Jaitley said, “I have already made the position. States which want to go for these kind of schemes, will have to generate them from their own resources. Beyond that as the central government, I have nothing to say.”
After a 10-day strike by agriculturists demanding loan waivers among other things, the Maharashtra government on Sunday announced they will write off the loans of small and marginal farmers. For waiving the loan burden of all 1.36 crore farmers in the state, the Maharashtra government will have to come up with Rs 1.14 lakh crore, reported The Indian Express. The total loan waiver of marginal and small farmers amounts to Rs 30,000 crore.
Earlier this year, the newly-elected government in Uttar Pradesh led by Chief Minister Adityanath had also announced they would write off such loans of over Rs 36,000 crore. Similar demands had then been made in Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Punjab.
Jaitley made the remarks regarding the loan wivers after a morning meeting with the chiefs of public sector banks. He met them to discuss their non-performing assets. “NPA resolution, finances of banks, review of financial inclusion discussed with heads of public banks,” PTI quoted him as saying.
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