Maharashtra team to study Rajasthan farm loan waiver scheme

A six-member team from Maharashtra will be visiting Jaipur to study the state government's farm loan waiver scheme, a senior official said.

The Maharashtra government has also decided to waive loans of farmers on the lines of Rajasthan, state cooperatives registrar Neeraj K. Pawan said.

Pawan further noted that Cooperatives Principal Secretary of Maharashtra, Abha Shukla, Principal Secretary, Information Technology SVR Srinivas, Agriculture Secretary, Eknath Dawale will be part of the six-member study team, who will be in Jaipur on December 5.

The team would study the loan waiver scheme implemented in the state for effective and transparent implementation.

The Shiv Sena-NCP-Congress alliance government led by Uddhav Thackeray in its common minimum programme has promised to waive loans of farmers.

Managing Director of the Apex Bank Inder Singh said Rajasthan has waived crop loans of about Rs 8,000 crore as on November 30, 2018 which benefited 20.30 lakh farmers. The present state government has provided loan waiver of Rs 15,000 crore through the scheme in the year 2018 and 2019.

He said Rajasthan has decided to waive loans of Rs 2 lakh of financially troubled marginal and small farmers taken from Central Cooperative Banks and Bhumi Vikas Bank as of November 30, 2018.

The decision will free about 4 lakh bighas of land of nearly 70,000 farmers of the state.