Mumbai, July 11 (IANS) The Nationalist Congress Party-Sharadchandra Pawar (NCP-SP) legislator Rohit Pawar said on Saturday that the Maharashtra government’s decision to scrap the restrictive terms and conditions previously tied to the Punyashlok Ahilyadevi Holkar Loan Waiver Scheme is a major victory for the collective struggles of farmers, organisations, and political leaders across the state.

At the press conference, Pawar said that the state government on June 2 had announced a massive Rs 36,585 crore loan waiver intended to benefit nearly 56 lakh farmers.

However, the NCP-SP leader added that the scheme was initially burdened with highly complex and unfair conditions.

Under the original framework, more than 35 lakh farmers were at risk of being completely excluded from the benefits.

Pawar highlighted two primary main points that triggered widespread outrage.

He said that farmers who had already availed benefits from the 2019 loan waiver were strictly capped at a maximum relief of just Rs 50,000.

He criticised this condition as inherently unjust, noting that since 2019, farmers have faced skyrocketing costs for fertilisers, seeds, labour, and transport, alongside the devastating impacts of climate change.

“To qualify for the state government’s incentive subsidy, the initial rule required farmers to have repaid their crop loans on time for any two years out of the 2022–23, 2023–24, and 2024–25 cycles. However, the state government added a steep secondary clause requiring them to have also paid off their crop loans for 2025–26 and 2026–27. This meant farmers effectively had to clear four years of debt just to access the incentive, threatening to leave millions empty-handed,” Pawar claimed.

Detailing the sustained agitations that forced the state government’s hand, the NCP-SP legislator outlined a timeline of intense demonstrations.

From June 12–14, activists and farmers launched a hunger strike in Pandharpur.

The strike was temporarily called off after Minister Girish Mahajan promised a review meeting, which the state government subsequently failed to schedule.

On June 29, in response to the state government’s silence, thousands of farmers marched in the massive Elgar Morcha in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar.

Pawar said that on July 1, he and farmer representatives met with the Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, presenting hard data to prove how the existing clauses were actively harming the farming community.

“On July 3 and July 8, a meeting was set up with Pravin Singh Pardeshi, the head of the committee, whose recommendations shaped the waiver. However, when farmer leaders and multi-party representatives showed up for the scheduled discussion on July 8 to advocate for an unconditional, blanket waiver, government officials failed to attend. Following the administrative snub on July 8, the issue was repeatedly raised inside the Legislative Assembly, culminating in a firm ultimatum delivered to the administration,” the NCP-SP leader noted.

“The pressure ultimately paid off when Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis announced on the floor of the House that the controversial conditions had been officially repealed,” Pawar said.

Concluding the press conference, the NCP-SP leader expressed his deep gratitude to the farmers, supporting organisations, political representatives, the media, and the police forces who cooperated during the protests.

“Today, the demands of thousands of farmers in the state have succeeded,” he said, adding that: “This is a triumph of absolute farmer unity.”

–IANS

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