After UP & Maharashtra, Punjab announces loan waiver for farmers

NEW DELHI: In a bid to go one-up on the moves by BJP governments in Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra, the Congress government in Punjab has also announced a farm loan waiver, offering double the relief for a farmer than the two BJP-ruled states.

Punjab chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh on Monday announced crop loan waiver of up to Rs 2 lakh for small and marginal farmers having less than 5 acre of land holding and a flat Rs 2 lakh waiver for marginal farmers having a bigger land holding.

The move would benefit 10.25 lakh farmers in Punjab, Singh said.


UP in April announced a waiver up to loan amount of Rs 1 lakh for nearly 87 lakh small and marginal farmers in the state. Maharashtra also announced a loan waiver up to Rs 1 lakh for farmers.

“The initiative would provide double the relief announced by states of Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra,” the Punjab government stressed in a statement. Congress had promised a loan waiver during Punjab polls. UP will bear a burden of nearly Rs 36,500 cr due to the loan waiver while Maharashtra is expected to bear a loan waiver amounting to nearly Rs 25,000 cr.

Punjab has not specified the total burden on its exchequer but claimed its offer is far more attractive for the state’s farmers than their counterparts in the two BJP-ruled states.

Captain Amarinder Singh said the state would also take over outstanding crop loans from institutional sources of all families of farmers who have committed suicides in Punjab.

The state has also decided to repeal a provision in law which provided for auction or seizure of farmers land due to unpaid loans. Hittig out at the preious Akali Dal-BJP regime, the CM said, “The Badal regime accepted a loan of Rs 31,000 cr to cover the shortfall in the cash credit limit for procurement of foodgrains, for which our government has to pay Rs 270 cr every month and Rs 3,240 crore annually. “