TN CM Vijay Announces Expanded Crop Loan Waiver for Farmers

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay announced an expansion of the state's crop loan waiver scheme in Chennai on Monday, raising relief limits to benefit an additional 1.38 lakh farmers.

Making the announcement under Rule 110 in the Tamil Nadu legislative assembly, the chief minister stated that farmers who had availed crop loans between Rs 75,000 and Rs 1 lakh will now receive a flat waiver of Rs 75,000. For farmers with crop loans exceeding Rs 1 lakh, a relief amount of Rs 35,000 has been sanctioned.

Prior to this decision, the waiver for farmers who obtained loans above Rs 75,000 was fixed at Rs 35,000. The newly announced modification increases the waiver amount for the Rs 75,000 to Rs 1 lakh slab by Rs 40,000. Crop loans up to Rs 75,000 had already been completely waived under earlier government provisions.

The latest enhancement requires an infusion of approximately Rs 953.06 crore in state funding. With this revision, the Tamil Nadu government's total crop loan waiver package has reached Rs 6,720 crore, extending financial relief to a total of 13.34 lakh farmers across the state.

The chief minister noted that the policy update was implemented following representations submitted by various farmers' associations during a recent meeting with the government.