Maharashtra Finance Minister Sudhir Mungantiwar, had in his Budget speech three months ago, said that while he is aware of the deep indebtedness of farmers in the state, a loan waiver would be an ill-advised step as it would have an impact on investment in the agriculture sector and would provide no assurance that the farmer would permanently come out of the debt trap.
The farm loan waiver practice which began in the current phase with the Yogi Adityanath government in Uttar Pradesh waiving off loans for small and marginal farmers to the tune of over 36,000 crore is having a snowball effect.
One Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan went on fast, while the other Fadnavis rushed to hold a meeting with the farmers representatives as it became clear that the farmers patience was over, and the stir was going to spread across the states include Rajasthan and Gujarat, both BJP ruled as well.
Fadnavis has now agreed to increase the price of milk to at least 70 per cent in favour of the farmers. Last week, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis had offered a conditional waiver, but the offer was spurned.
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Accordingly, he said, the strike and other forms of agitation across the state had been suspended, including Monday's proposed dharnas outside collectorates and Revenue Department offices, and Tuesday's rail-road blockade. Most farmers, who faced losses were from regions growing cotton, pulses and groundnut.
A western Indian state has agreed to write off loans to farmers estimated to be worth almost $5 billion after 11 days of protests that have strangled supplies to the country's financial capital, Mumbai.
But experts say loan waivers amount to quick fixes and they can not tackle the structural flaws in farm policies, which have encouraged higher production of crops previously in short supply but offered scant protection on prices. The official said in view of the precarious condition of district cooperative banks, the CM may also approach PSU banks to provide fresh loans to farmers. The Ministers' group has chose to restart fresh loan disbursal to farmers from Sunday, Raghunathdada said. "Beyond that the central government has nothing more to say", Arun Jaitley said. "Now that their demands have been met, I am requesting farmers to get down to work during the Kharif season". "Farmers and their betterment was, is and will always be this government's top priority", he added.
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