Data glitch derails waiver, 656k farmers await relief

Farmers' loan waiver data was corrupted before it could be transferred between govt portals—a major blunder the state has yet to rectify

- Faisal Malik

MUMBAI: Eight years after being promised farm loan waivers, around 656,000 farmers in Maharashtra are still waiting, all because a portal switch caused their data to get corrupted.

The state cooperation department, responsible for implementing the scheme, has admitted to what they are calling a "technical failure". Minister Babasaheb Patil, who heads the department, claims they are still working to resolve the issue.

In a double whammy, these farmers, whose loan waivers have been pending since 2017, were rendered ineligible for a waiver under the successive MVA government, two years later, as their applications were pending under the earlier scheme, a government official revealed.

The loan waiver was unveiled by the first Devendra Fadnavis government, on June 24, 2017, after a hunger strike by agriculturists. Named the 'Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Shetkari Sanman Yojana' (CSMSSY), the ₹34,022-crore scheme was expected to cover 8.9 million farmers who were struggling with rising debt due to crop failure, drought, among other reasons.

Under the scheme, each farmer family was to receive a maximum benefit of ₹1.5 lakh. Agriculturists who were repaying loans on a regular basis were also promised a cash-back incentive of up to ₹25,000. A total of 5.1 million farmers were found eligible.

In the interests of transparency and to guard against corruption, the farmers were told to file their applications online—and that's where the problem began.

What actually happened