The Congress government’s announcement on farmer loan waivers is not aligning with what is being executed at the grassroots level. Reports indicate that reductions are also being made in the second phase of the loan waiver.
It appears that the number of eligible recipients has been significantly reduced. Although a total of Rs. 6,500 crores is set to be waived for loans up to Rs. 1.5 lakhs, this will only apply to 7 lakh farmers. Concerns are being raised over the eligibility criteria, with skepticism about the limited number of beneficiaries in the second phase. The criteria for selecting the actual candidates remain unclear.
On Tuesday, as part of the second installment, the government plans to waive off loans up to Rs. 1.5 lakhs. The first installment of Rs. 6,098 crore waived loans up to Rs. 1 lakh for 11.42 lakh farmers. The second installment of Rs. 6,500 crore aims to waive loans up to Rs. 1.5 lakhs for 7 lakh farmers. This means the loan waiver applies to only 18.42 lakh farmers over two installments.
Questions are being raised about whether there are only 18 lakh farmers with loans up to Rs. 1.5 lakhs in these two phases. The Congress government had initially announced that it would waive loans for 42 lakh farmers. According to this plan, 18.42 lakh farmers with loans up to Rs. 1.5 lakhs will benefit from the waiver. This leaves 23.58 lakh farmers with loans exceeding Rs. 1.5 lakhs. However, officials doubt there are that many farmers with such high loans, speculating there might be only about 10 lakh such farmers. Consequently, it appears the government will waive loans for around 28 lakh farmers in total.
Criticism is mounting over the government’s secretive approach to the loan waiver process. The disclosure of the number of eligible farmers and the release of the list have been kept confidential. While the list for the first phase was released the night before its implementation, the second phase’s lists had not been provided to the districts until Monday night. This has caused confusion among field officials, who are struggling to identify which farmers have received the loan waiver and which have not, due to the lack of timely information.