With cap of Rs 1 lakh on loans waiver, Yogi govt betrayed farmers of UP: Akhilesh Yadav

NEW DELHI: Unimpressed with Yogi Adityanath cabinet's decision to waive farmers' crop loans up to Rs 1 lakh, Former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav said millions of farmers are feeling cheated as the promise of complete loan waiver was made during elections. "A promise of complete loan waiver was made to the farmers not upto a certain limit. With the ceiling of Rs 1 lakh, millions of farmers are feeling cheated. It's a betrayal (of promise) with the poor farmers," the SP national president said.

वादा पूर्ण क़र्ज़ माफ़ी का था, किसी सीमा का नहीं. एक लाख की सीमा से करोड़ों किसान ठगा सा महसूस कर रहे है. ये गरीब किसानों के साथ धोखा है.

— Akhilesh Yadav (@yadavakhilesh) April 4, 2017

What BJP said in manifesto: BJP, in its Lok Kalyan Sankalp Patra (manifesto), had promised to waive the loans of small and marginal farmers and Prime Minister Narendra Modi had said in his election speeches that writing off farmers' loans would be among the foremost tasks of the BJP government in Uttar Pradesh. Modi had promised during his election campaign that a decision on loan waiver would be taken at the first cabinet meeting of the BJP government in the state. Farm loan waiver announced by Yogi govt in first cabinet meet: The Uttar Pradesh government on Tuesday cleared a Rs 36,359-crore proposal allowing waiver of loans for marginal and small farmers of the state. The decision was taken at the first cabinet meeting of the BJP government, presided over by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath. Briefing the media after the meeting, Health Minister Siddharth Nath Singh said that with this, the promise made by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Bharatiya Janata Party President Amit Shah, during assembly polls to farmers of the state, has been fulfilled. He also said that of the total 2.30 crore farmers in UP, 92.5 per cent or 2.15 crore were small and marginal. The waiver by the state government applies to loans taken by these farmers against seeds for wheat and paddy crops, besides pesticides and fertilisers. In all, the amount which is being waived comes to a total of Rs 30,729 crore, the minister said. The waiver would apply to loan amounts of Rs 1 lakh. Singh also said that there were around seven lakh farmers who defaulted on loans taken and now bore the non-performing asset tag. The government has also decided to write off all their loans, amounting to Rs 5,630 crore. In all, the loan waiver amount cleared by the state cabinet is to the tune of Rs 36,359 crore, he said.