The farmers in Uttar Pradesh have been restive since 2017. The Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Ajay Bisht during his poll campaign had promised to waive off all farm loans before March 2016 and in his first Cabinet meeting he had announced, amidst much cheer, the decision to waive off loans of Rs 36,359 crore taken by about 94 lakh small and marginal farmers in the state. The amount was to include Rs 5,630 crore loans of 7 lakh farmers whose accounts were declared non-performing assets (NPAs) by banks.
However, it became evident that most farmers had been taken for a ride. A Mathura farmer got a loan waiver of one paisa, while several others got waivers of less than ₹15. Later, it was reported that the government had waived off amounts between ₹1 and ₹100 for 4,814 farmers, between ₹100 and ₹500 for 6,895 farmers, and between ₹500 and ₹1,000 for 5,553 farmers.
Immediately after coming to power in Uttar Pradesh, the Bisht-government had increased the power tariff in 2017, followed by another hike in 2019. In 2017, the Uttar Pradesh Electricity Regulatory Commission (UPERC) announced a hike of 12% in power tariff and in 2019, a hike of 8% to 12% was approved.
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