BATHINDA: Welcoming Telangana govt’s decision of waiving off crop loans of farmers up to Rs 2 lakh, Punjab farmers have also reiterated their demand of farm debt waiver from the central govt.
The Telangana govt has claimed the scheme would benefit nearly 40 lakh farmers. However, it has been stated that loan waivers provide temporary relief to indebted farmers and it is not a long-term solution to agrarian distress.
Farmer forum Kisan Mazdoor Morcha convener Sarvan Singh Pandher said: “We welcome the waiver by Telangana govt and urge central and Punjab govt to waive farm loans of Punjab farmers. The state govt, led by Captain Amarinder Singh, had announced loan waiver in 2018, but only 5.63 lakh farmers could get loan waiver of Rs 4,610 crore.”
“We urge the central govt to announce waiver as cash benefit of Rs 6,000 per annum under PM Kisan is highly insufficient to erase the miseries of highly indebted Punjab farmers,” said Pandher.
History of farm loan waiversGoing into the history of farm loan waivers, the first farm loan waiver was introduced in India in 1990 under the Agricultural and Rural Debt Relief (ARDR), providing relief to farmers for up to Rs 10,000 on select loans and nearly Rs 7,800 crore was disbursed.
The most pronounced debt waiver scheme at pan-India level was announced by the then Dr Manmohan Singh govt in 2008 ahead of 2009 general elections as ‘Agricultural Debt Waiver and Debt Relief Scheme’ when a waiver of Rs 71,000 crore was announced.
As per a write up by Drishti IAS coaching, a study was carried out by State Bank of India in 2023 which listed that the various state govts, including Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Punjab, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, and Tamil Nadu, have announced loan waivers amounting to Rs 2.52 lakh crore in eight years from 2014 to March 2022. In these waivers, 368 lakh farmers were benefitted but disbursal varied from state to state.
Only once in 2018, the Chhattisgarh govt had disbursed loan waiver to 100% farmers as per announcement with waiver of Rs 6,100 crore to nine lakh farmers.Maharashtra is the only govt which announced the waiver twice in 2017 and 2020.
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