UP biggest beneficiary of loan waiver scheme

Uttar Pradesh is set to be the biggest beneficiary of the loan waiver scheme for farmers announced by the Finance Minister in the annual Budget. Of the four crore beneficiaries estimated by the minister, almost half are in UP. Small and marginal farmer households number 2.25 crore in the state and 90 per cent of them are borrowers from PSU banks, regional rural banks and district cooperative banks. As many as 1.35 crore farmers have been issued Kisan Credit cards and most of them are small and marginal farmers.

The UPA’s farmer-friendly Budget takes the winds out of the sail of UP Chief Minister Mayawati and SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav, who had made rural indebtedness a major issue, particularly in the Bundelkhand region. Now, the loan waiver promises much more to the farmers of Bundelkhand than what the UP Government had demanded in its special package.

Mayawati during her January 29 rally had announced to waive interest on crop loans of small and marginal farmers and demanded from the Centre to share half the burden for waiving the principal amount. The Centre has waived off the entire amount of interest and principal on all outstanding loans on the small and marginal farmers.

An official said the exact number of beneficiaries could be worked only after the detailed circular is issued by the Reserve Bank of India, but the loan waiver had given “much more than what the state Government had demanded from the Centre for the Bundelkhand region”.