More needs to be done: UP farmers on loan waiver

Farmer leaders in Uttar Pradesh welcomed the state government's move to waive off loans but said the cap of Rs one lakh left them feeling cheated.

Farmers unions said the cap and limitation to crop loan would confine the benefit.

"We welcome the gesture and it will help many, but very few small farmers apply for crop loans, so it won't help all... Prime Minister Narendra Modi promised during elections to waive off the entire loan and not a fixed section," Dharmendra Singh from Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) told IANS.

Former Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav also termed the announcement as a betrayal.

"Promise was to waive the entire loan... farmers are feeling cheated as the government fixed a limit of Rs one lakh. The poor farmers have been betrayed," Akhilesh Yadav tweeted.

Umesh Chandra Pandey, another farmer leader based in Sitapur, said that while small and marginalised farmers deserve help, the condition of big farmers in Uttar Pradesh is not very good either.

"We hope this government would think of others as well," Pandey told IANS.

According to the state cabinet decision, loan worth Rs 36,359 crore will be waived. The decision is supposed to benefit small and marginal farmers, about 1 core 15 lakh out of total 2.30 crore farmers in the state.

Loan waiver of the small farmers was among the election promise of the BJP, which came to power last month.

--IANS

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