Yogi's farm loan waiver: Rahul says partial relief for farmers, Akhilesh unimpressed

NEW DELHI: Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday said Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath's decision to waive off farm loans is a step in the right direction. He, however, cautioned the Central government against "discriminating among states". "A partial relief for UP (Uttar Pradesh) farmers, but a step in the right direction. The Congress has always supported loan waivers for farmers in distress." "I'm happy BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party) has finally been forced to see reason," Rahul tweeted. He also advised the Centre not to "play politics with our farmers who are suffering across the country". "The Central government must have a national response to the widespread distress and not discriminate...," he said. Akhilesh Yadav seems uunimpressed: 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. 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. (With inputs from agencies)