The Maharashtra government’s mega loan waiver scheme has benefited even imprisoned farmers.
Eighty-eight farmers, who are lodged in Nagpur and Nashik central jails, were encouraged to apply for the loan waiver announced in June last year. Of them, 56 have received the benefits, former Nagpur collector Sachin Kurve said. He served as collector from May 2015 to April 2018.
Mr. Kurve, currently Mumbai suburban district Collector, said the applications of other farmer-prisoners, apart from the 88, were rejected as they had provided insufficient documents or their names did not match with those on their Aadhaar cards.
He said prisoners are provided the necessary guidance and support by the Collector’s office and the welfare committees formed for jail inmates. They make their meetings with relatives easier, arrange for videoconferencing for court appearances, and help provide better toilets.
“While we were providing these facilities, we noticed some of the prisoners, who were farmers by profession, had taken loans [for agriculture purposes]. Thus, we started campaigns and organised special camps inside jails to provide them with Aadhaar cards so that they become eligible for the scheme,” Mr. Kurve said.
He said the initiative was taken on instructions from Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, who said no eligible farmer be left out.
An official from the home department said of the 88 jailed farmers, a few have been convicted by courts, while the others are undertrials.
Most of the convicts were booked for crimes like cheating, rioting and theft, he said, but declined to disclose the nature of cases in which the other farmers were arrested. Minister for Cooperation Subhash Deshmukh had said that no eligible farmer will be deprived of the scheme. “We will try to give the benefits to other prisoners [who are also farmers] as well,” Mr. Deshmukh said.
Welcoming the government’s initiative, farm activist Kishor Tiwari said those prisoner-cultivators, whose claims have been rejected, should be provided help so that they, too, benefit from the scheme.
“We welcome the initiative. Though farmers are behind bars, their families should get some relief. The government should help with the documentation for those whose claims have been rejected,” he said. The State Cabinet on Tuesday gave its approval to extend the loan waiver scheme to farmers who have defaulted on loans since 2001. The previous cut-off was 2009.
According to official figures, ₹15,700 crore has been disbursed to more than 35 lakh farmers till now.
A total of 46.52 lakh farmers have been found to be eligible. Of them, 30.38 lakh have applied for full loan waiver, while the rest have sought relief under the incentive component (for repaying loans on time) of the ₹34,000-crore scheme.
