Madras HC instructs TN govt to waive off loans of drought-hit farmers

Madras high court orders Tamil Nadu govt to waive off farmers loan.

Chennai, April 4: The Madras high court in Chennai came to the rescue of drought-hit farmers of Tamil Nadu on Tuesday. In its order, the court directed the ruling All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam government to waive off loans of all farmers in cooperative banks. Earlier, the Tamil Nadu government waived off loans of farmers who owned five-acre of land.

Tamil Nadu is experiencing severe drought which led to the destruction of crops across the state. Because of the ongoing agricultural crisis, several farmers in the state, unable to repay loans taken from banks and private money lenders, committed suicide in the recent past.

According to an estimate, the crisis in the agriculture sector in Tamil Nadu has reached a mammoth proportion. Since October last year, every day, two farmers are committing suicide in the state, say reports.

Since March 14, a group of 80-odd farmers from Tamil Nadu are protesting at Jantar Mantar in Delhi demanding financial relief as they have lost their crops and savings in the ongoing drought in the state. The peaceful agitation has brought a lot of attention as the farmers are protesting with skulls.

"We are going to continue the protest indefinitely until the Centre fulfils all our demands. The state government has sought Rs 39,565 crore as drought relief from the National Disaster Response Fund. But the central team has recommended a paltry sum of Rs 2,096.80 crore as drought relief. It is grossly inadequate. The state has witnessed an unprecedented drought in the last 150 years and the whole state has been declared drought-hit," South Indian Rivers Inter-Linking Farmers Association president P Ayyakannu who is leading the protest, said.

OneIndia News