Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh on Monday said his administration will completely waive crop loans of up to Rs 2 lakh for small and marginal farmers who own up to five acres in the state. His government will offer Rs 2 lakh relief for other marginal farmers irrespective of their loan amount.
Singh made this announcement during his speech in the Vidhan Sabha on Monday. He said the move is bound to benefit more than 10.25 lakh farmers. The state has 18 lakh farmers, Hindustan Times reported.
“The initiative would provide double the relief announced by the states of Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra,” the chief minister was quoted as saying by IANS. In April, the Adityanath government had announced a farm loan waiver worth Rs 36,359 crore for Uttar Pradesh farmerss. On June 11, the Maharashtra government too announced to waive farmer loans worth Rs 30,000 crore of small and marginal farmers.
Demands for loan waivers have surfaced across the country in Haryana, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, and Karnataka. On June 15, hundreds of farmers from Rajasthan launched an indefinite strike demanding a loan waiver.
On April 4, the Madras High Court had ordered the Tamil Nadu government to waive all farmers’ loans considering the drought situation in the state.
For farmer suicide victims:
The Punjab government further announced to waive loans, raised from institutional sources, of families of those farmers who had committed suicide in the state. The ex-gratia for families of such farmers has been raised from Rs 3 lakh to Rs 5 lakh, he said.
Meanwhile, for loans raised from non-institutional resources, Singh said the government will review the Punjab Settlement of Agriculture Indebtedness Act. “The government has already constituted a Cabinet sub-committee to review this Act,” he added.
Other announcements:
The Punjab chief minister made several other announcements in the Vidhan Sabha. He said free text-books, Wi-Fi facilities will be given to the students of the state. Girl students in the state will be provided free education at all government schools and colleges up to PhD. Singh further said state loans of up to Rs 50,000 has been decided to be waived for those belonging to the Scheduled Castes and economically weaker categories.
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