Mahayuti had promised to waive farm loans once it came to power, but has been dragging its feet ever since. Will rain annihilating farms across Maharashtra finally push state govt to keep its word?
A badly flooded area in Solapur last week. Heavy rain has destroyed vast acres of farmland in Marathwada. PIC/X/@TheMahaIndex
The government has no choice but to step in with both an immediate, sizeable relief package and, sooner or later, a loan waiver. Farmers are staring at survival- level distress after massive rainfall washed away swathes of crops across large parts of Maharashtra. Immediate relief will give farmers cash support for now to keep them afloat, and a loan waiver will help protect the fraternity from being branded as defaulters.
Most farmers survive on seasonal crop loans from financial institutions. These loans are repaid after harvest. But, with crops damaged due to heavy rainfall, repayment has become impossible.
While the government has temporarily halted recovery, it cannot be stretched for years or forever, unless the government asks banks to restructure loans or defer recovery for a longer period.
Farmers will soon have to start repayment of credit or get tagged as defaulters. This means doors to fresh loans will be closed. In that case, many farmers will not be able to buy seed, fertilisers and pesticides for the upcoming crop.
In such a situation, there will be no sowing, no harvest and no income. The farming fraternity, already reeling under a crisis, will be pushed into further debt and deeper trouble.
This clearly indicates that farmers need immediate relief so that they can get back on their feet. A loan waiver has become a survival necessity for two reasons: one — as rain has washed away crops, and two — because the ruling Mahayuti alliance (BJP, Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena and Ajit Pawar-headed NCP) promised during the 2024 assembly campaign to wipe out all farmers’ loan books.
Over eight months after being voted to power, the alliance has so far dragged its feet on implementing the loan waiver. Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and his deputies Shinde and Pawar keep reiterating that they have not forgotten their promise and the waiver will happen at the appropriate time, which so far does not seem to have arrived.
Ideally, in the current crisis of ‘wet drought’, a loan waiver as promised is the right time.
But many experts are of the opinion that a loan waiver may not offer immediate relief. In reality, it benefits banks more than the farmers. The waiver money goes straight to lenders, helping financial institutions to recover dues.
This does not solve the underlying issue of farm distress, as it does not put fresh capital in the hands of farmers, who desperately need money for the upcoming crop (sown in winter and harvested during March and April. Without this, the cycle of distress will continue.
Another challenge is the unpredictability of the weather. Due to climate change, delayed or excessive or dry monsoon spells have made farming extremely risky.
Statistics on crops damaged in the last few years are evidence of the fact. According to state government records, in the past nine years, 519 lakh hectares of farmland across the state have been damaged due to unseasonal rain.
Recently, during his visit to flood-affected areas of Marathwada and Solapur, Fadnavis too admitted that climate change was taking a toll on the agricultural sector.
Loan waiver is not new to Indian politics. Back in 2008, the UPA government announced a nationwide loan waiver scheme, which reportedly benefitted 70 lakh farmers from Maharashtra.
A few years later, in 2017, the then CM Fadnavis rolled out a R34,000 crore waiver. The aim was to bail out around 67 lakh debt-ridden farmers. Two-and-a-half years later, in 2020, Uddhav Thackeray, who was CM then, followed it with another loan waiver.
Agricultural scientist S Swaminathan famously warned, “If agriculture goes wrong, nothing else will have a chance to go right.” The warning clearly highlights that farmers need financial support, policy reforms and access to resources.
On the other hand, a well-planned sizable financial package could make a real difference. Direct support to farmers will ensure that the fraternity gets immediate assistance to regain lost ground and make an attempt at a comeback from the current crisis.
If the government fails to meet the basic requirement, one should be prepared to face consequences like rising debt, cost of essential commodities and veggie prices going up, which in turn will increase inflation levels.
Non-availability of enough support may force some farmers to migrate to cities, which can lead to social unrest.
The human cost is stark. Not all, but many farmers’ suicides are linked to financial distress. The latest report from the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) mentions that in 2023, 10786 farmers and agricultural workers
took their own lives. Maharashtra accounted for the highest share, with nearly 39 of these tragic deaths.
In 2025, 767 farmers took their lives in Maharashtra, highlighting a deepening crisis in the agricultural sector.
Aware of the gravity, on Thursday, in his Dussehra rally speech, Shinde promised farmers every possible help by the government and his party to pull the community out of crisis. Besides assurances, Shinde even pleaded with farmers not to take extreme steps.
For now, as interim relief, farmers are being provided with Rs 10,000 cash along with 10 kg of rice and 10 kg of wheat. But what farmers need is not interim, but sizeable and quick relief so that they can survive today, and loan waiver packages to help them rebuild. In its absence, the same trap of debt will continue and change nothing in farmers’ lives.
Sanjeev Shivadekar is political editor, mid-day. He tweets @SanjeevShivadek
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The views expressed in this column are the individual’s and don’t represent those of the paper.
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