Maharashtra Farm Loan Waiver Opposition Reaction Devendra Fadnavis

Maharashtra’s opposition parties on Wednesday slammed the state government over its farm loan waiver announcement calling it a facade and claimed that 50 per cent farmers will be kept out of benefits.

“The loan waiver scheme announced by the Mahayuti government under the leadership of Devendra Fadnavis is merely a facade. By using wordplay and imposing terms, conditions, and rules, the government has deliberately kept more than 50 per cent of farmers out of this scheme.

This is a cruel mockery of farmers,” said Congress state president Harshavardhan Sapkal. He demanded that the government should make the 7/12 extract of all farmers in the state debt-free.

The Maharashtra cabinet on Tuesday approved the Rs 36,585-crore Punyashlok Ahilyadevi Holkar farm loan waiver scheme, expected to benefit 55.72 lakh farmers across the state.

“Farmers who received benefits under the Mahatma Jyotiba Phule Farm loan waiver scheme of the Maha Vikas Aghadi government will not have their current overdue loans completely waived; they will only receive a benefit of Rs 50,000. This Fadnavis government scheme has been announced only for crop loans and restructured loans. Many farmers have taken loans for wells, pipelines, and livestock (cows/buffaloes), which are also overdue, but all such farmers will remain deprived of this scheme; this is a cruel mockery of the farmers,” said farmers’ leader and former MP Raju Shetti.

He said that the scheme announced is not a loan waiver but merely a game of numbers on paper. NCP(SP) MLA Rohit Pawar said that the entire loan waiver scheme is based on several terms and conditions.

“It seems the government wanted to present conditions instead of actual loan waiver,” he said.

All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS) held burning of government resolution regarding farm loan waiver at different locations in Maharashtra. “This is one of the worst loan waivers in the history which will give benefits to minimum number of farmers as it has maximum number of conditions,” said Ajit Navale, state secretary, AIKS.

Sapkal alleged that the government has completely abandoned farmers who repay their loans regularly. “To receive the incentive benefit, farmers are required to have taken and repaid crop loans on time in any two of the three years—2022/23, 2023/24, and 2024/25. Additionally, it is mandatory for these farmers to have taken and repaid crop loans in the subsequent years of 2025/26 and 2026/27 as well, only then will such farmers receive the meager incentive benefit of 50 thousand rupees,” he said.