The state government has decided to offer Rs 4,868 crore package to 39 lakh farmers who were left out of the centre’s loan waiver package.
The decision was taken by the group of ministers headed by chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh on Monday. The proposal which got the consent will be placed before the cabinet on Wednesday. The details of the package is still being fine tuned.
The UPA farmer’s loan waiver package of Rs 71,000 crore for entire country saw Maharashtra getting a share of Rs 7,000 crore. It was disbursed to 34 lakh farmers who were defaulters unable to repay the loans.
Ever since the concession given to the defaulters there was a debate among regular loan payers that government was not looking at their problems and punishing them for abiding the banking norms. To provide relief to such section who was completely left out of the centre’s package the state planned to make budgetary provisions to extend
economic benefits to them.
However, a unanimous decision on terms and conditions and quantum of loan waiver for these farmers could not be finalized. The issue will be taken up at the cabinet meeting which will streamline the details.
In the run up to the state assembly elections the Democratic Front government reckons agrarian crisis cannot be overlooked. The state has been reeling under serious agriculture crisis specially in the six districts of Vidarbha which saw maximum number of cotton growing farmers committing suicides.
The plight of farmers has also extended in economically prosperous regions of western Maharashtra where sugar cane farmers had sought subsidy for cane cultivation. The regions of Marathwada also saw worst drought like situation thus adversely affecting the farmers across the region.
The union agriculture minister Sharad Pawar last week has urged the state government to ensure effective implementation of the budget set aside for the agriculture sector. He lamented that majority of the budget allocated by the finance ministry was being used for administration and not reaching the needy farmers.
Despite much hype about the Centre’s loan waiver package the state could not win over entire agriculture sector. To the contrary the package boomeranged as farmers who were disciplined in repaying the loan interests felt the government was punishing them and rewarding those who regularly defaulted.
This message across the state did not auger well for the government. Specially at a time when farmers suicides in Vidarbha has become a national news.
The farmers across the state have passed through worst times with entire khariff crop destroyed last season because of acute shortage of rainfall. The severe drought from March upto August was most difficult phase for the agriculture sector. What compounded their problems is the long hours of load shedding because of power shortage.
The power cuts saw the farmers unable to draw water using the water pumps due to electricity failure.
