Tamil Nadu Chief Minister K Palaniswami announces waiver on Rs.12,110cr farm loans from cooperative banks  

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister K Palaniswami announced the waiver on Rs.12,10cr crop loans that farmers borrowed from cooperative banks. According to the Chief Minister, this move is to benefit 16.43lakhs farmers.  This in addition to the earlier announcement of Rs.1,117cr as compensation for damaged crops, it was said to aid around 11 lakh farmers. 

Palaniswami said that this announcement was meant to ease the burden on farmers who have been struggling owing to the pandemic, two cyclones and the unusual rains in the most of January. Tamil Nadu had seen unprecedented rainfall in the previous month, which had caused severe damage to crops that were ready for harvest. 

Referring to his roots as a farmer, the Chief Minister said that he always understood the farming community’s woes. “In 2016, Rs.5780 worth farm loans were waived off. Its a matter of joy for me as a farmer, that Amma’s(Jayalalithaa's government) has waived off farm loans twice, during its tenure” he added.  

Outlining the aid to farmers during their 10-year rule, the Government stated that 12.02lakh small-scale farmers had benefited from the waiver and that Rs.2,247cr was provided as an aid in 2017 owing to the severe drought.  

In addition to the loan waivers, the Chief Minister said that cases filed against those who took part in the 2017 Jallikattu protests would be withdrawn, in consultation with legal experts. All charges except those of setting vehicles on fire, attacking policemen would be withdrawn, he added.  

The Chief Minister also lashed out the opposition party DMK, by saying that they had been unable to fulfill their 2006 Assembly Poll promise on providing 2 acres of land for landless farmers. He also added that the 38 DMK MPSs had forgotten their promise made during the 2019 Parliamentary polls, of waiving off farm loans from cooperatives.