Punjab chief minister Amarinder Singh has announced a waiver of Rs 590 crore worth of loans under the farm debt waiver scheme for labourers and the landless farming community, an official statement said on Wednesday. The government will pay off loans to the tune of Rs 590 crore of 285,325 members of the Primary Agricultural Cooperative Societies (PACS), thus ensuring a relief of Rs 20,000 per member, said the statement quoting the chief minister. The chief minister's announcements follow the waiver of the loans of farmers under the chief minister's flagship 'Debt Waiver Scheme.' So far, loans of Rs 4,624 crore have been waived of 5.64 lakh farmers under the scheme, which was announced as part of the 2017 poll promises by the Punjab Congress. In addition, loans of the Scheduled Caste and Backward Class categories have been written off up to Rs 50,000 each, including waiver up to Rs 58.39 crore of 6,405 beneficiaries by the Scheduled Caste Corporation and Rs 20.71 crore of 1,225 beneficiaries by the Backward Class Corporation.

Source: dna July 14, 2021 12:22 UTC