Madhya Pradesh farmer finds out he’s ineligible for loan waiver, commits suicide

Police said the farmer had taken a bank loan of ₹300,000 after March 31, 2018. Under the loan waiver scheme however, only those who had taken loans before that date qualified for a waiver.

A farmer committed suicide in a village in Khandwa district allegedly after he came to know that he would be ineligible for the loan waiver announced by chief minister Kamal Nath, police said quoting family.

Police said farmer Juan Singh was depressed after learning that he is not eligible for the loan waiver and committed suicide on Saturday. (Representative image)

Pandhana station house officer Shivendu Joshi said Juan Singh, 45, of Anjaria village hanged himself from a tree at his farm. Joshi said the the farmer had taken a bank loan of ₹300,000 after March 31, 2018. Under the loan waiver scheme however, only those who had taken loans before that date qualified for a waiver. The SHO said that Juan was depressed after learning this and took his own life on Saturday.

Chief Minister Kamal Nath had announced loan waivers of upto ~200000 for farmers who had taken loans from national and cooperative banks before March 31, 2018. According to government estimates, around 3.5 million farmers are going to benefit from the loan waiver.

The suicide, the first since the Congress government took over, comes just a couple of days after former chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan had criticised the Congress government for setting a cut-off date for the loan waiver