9 lakh farmers to benefit as Jharkhand waives off farm loans up to Rs 50 thousand

Farm loans have been waived off, on Thursday, amounting up to Rs 50,000 in Jharkhand. This move by the Hemant Soren government will help around 9 lakh farmers in the state, the officials said.

Partly fulfilling the promise made by the ruling coalition ahead of the 2019 assembly elections, this decision came in at a cabinet meeting on Wednesday.

An allocation of Rs 20,000 crore has been made in the current financial year for the waiver, said the government.

If voted to power, the ruling coalition promised to waive off loans up to Rs 2 lakh, ahead of assembly elections last year.

Finance Minister Rameshwar Oraon of Congress told PTI that his government has decided to give the benefit of loan waiver to marginal farmers at first, and in the second and third phases, the government will try to waive loans up to 1 lakh and 2 lakh, respectively.

Farmers who have availed farm loans of up to 50,000 from any bank until March 31, 2020, will be eligible for the waiver. It has also been decided that under the scheme the loan of only one person from a family will be waived. The farmers who apply for the loan waiver would be charged a service fee of Re 1. The waiver amount will be transferred directly to the bank accounts of the farmers, officials said.

The decision to waive farm loans got delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic informed JMM’s spokesperson Supriyo Bhattacharya. However, by making the decision ahead of the first anniversary of the Hemant Soren government, the intention to help farmers has been made clear, he added.