NEW DELHI, June 12 (Xinhua) -- Farmers in the western Indian state of Maharashtra have called off their protest after the state government promised to waive off their loans.
The farmers in Maharashtra had been protesting since earlier this month to demand that the government write off their debts and offer them better prices for their produce. However, they decided to end the protest after an assurance from Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis.
"We have decided to temporarily call off our agitation," farmer leader Raju Shetti told the media.
Announcing the loan waiver, Fadnavis on Sunday said: "The loan waiver is for all farmers and not confined to just small and marginal categories. There will be defined parameters to ensure genuine and needy farmers are not left out of the institutional credit bracket."
However, on Monday, one of his ministers indicated that the loan waiver scheme will not be applicable to rich farmers.
"We have found that the loan waiver scheme introduced previously had benefited the rich farmers largely in Maharashtra. To avoid it, we will set up a high-level committee to omit such rich farmers from the list of beneficiaries," State Revenue Minister Chandrakant Patil told the media.
Meanwhile, farmer protests are still on in the central state of Madhya Pradesh, where five farmers were killed in police firing last week.
