State cabinet approves farm loan waiver, ₹10 meal scheme

MEANWHILE, CM WROTE TO PRIME MINISTER NARENDRA MODI ON TUESDAY SEEKING A CLASSICAL LANGUAGE STATUS FOR MARATHI

MUMBAI: The Maharashtra cabinet on Tuesday approved the proposals for ₹2 lakh farm loan waiver and ₹10 meal scheme, after chief minister Uddhav Thackeray announced them in the state Assembly on Saturday.

“I am happy to tell you all that we have approved both the schemes, which were part of the common minimum programme of our government,” rural development minister Chhagan Bhujbal told the media on Tuesday.

Both the schemes are likely to cost the exchequer around ₹26,000 crore.

The farm loan waiver is likely to put a burden of more than ₹20,000 crore on the state exchequer. “The waiver may even reach around ₹25,000 crore,” a state government official said.

The waiver will be applicable to those farmers whose loans, taken between April 2015 and March this year, were pending as on September 30, 2019. Officials said the state is expecting to benefit more than 60 lakh farmers from the waiver.

After farmers apply for the waiver, the amount would directly reach the banks or credit societies which had lent the loans. The government is also planning a scheme for farmers who had taken loans above ₹2 lakh. Apart from this, the state also plans to introduce an incentive scheme for those farmers who have already repaid their loans, to encourage the timely repayment of loans.

The other scheme, Shiv Bhojan, will cost the state ₹6.48 crore. It will be introduced at selected locations on an experimental basis for three months, with at least one ₹10-meal centre per every district. The state plans to serve around 500 subsidised meals every day between 12 and 2pm, with each meal consisting two chapatis, 100 grams of vegetables, 150 grams of rice and 100 grams of lentils. The price of one meal is expected to cost the state ₹50 in cities and ₹35 in rural areas.