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Waive loans of all farmers, Madras High Court tells TN government

Ruling to benefit 3 lakh farmers who have taken loans from co-op banks

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Tamil Nadu farmers celebrate at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi on Tuesday as the Madras HC directed the State government to waive loans of all farmers in cooperative banks
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In a major victory for the Tamil Nadu farmers protesting at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi, the Madras High Court on Tuesday asked the state government to waive loans obtained by farmers from the cooperative banks, without limiting the benefits to those owning less than five acres of land.

A division bench of Justice S Nagamuthu and MV Muralidharan also restrained officials from initiating any penal or recovery proceedings against farmers who had defaulted on repayment of loans. The ruling will benefit 3.01 lakh farmers who were excluded from the loan waiver scheme. Farm loan waiver was one of the first schemes to be implemented by the then chief minister J Jayalalithaa after winning the state polls in May last year. The scheme cost the government Rs 5,780 crore and benefited 16.94 lakh marginal and small farmers who owned up to 2.5 acres and 5 acres of land respectively.

The directive was issued on a petition filed by P Ayyakannu of the National South Indian River Interlinking Agriculturist Association, who was leading a farmers' dharna in New Delhi for the past 21 days. "It is our first victory. We will return only after all our demands — including waiver of farms loans taken from the nationalised banks — are met. Until then we will continue our protest here," Ayyakannu declared after the news of the high court verdict. The bench also has a word of appreciation for Ayyakannu, "who fought for the voiceless farming community of the state."

Stating that the court was aware that the financial situation of the state government is grim, the order said, "The Chief Secretary, in her letter to the Advocate General, also reiterated the same. The state government is already single-handedly shouldering the burden to the tune of Rs 5,780 crore and it will be an additional burden to bear Rs 1,980.33 crore."

"In this difficult situation, the Central government cannot be a silent spectator. It should come forward to extend help to the state government," it said.

"The contention that the maximum beneficiaries with minimum funds are the underlying policy of the government cannot be countenanced. When the policy of the government is to rescue the farmers from their woes, which were the result of natural calamities, and when all farmers have suffered equal loss, it is not intelligible to differentiate the farmers based on the number of beneficiaries," it added.

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