In what has become one of the significant conclusions to close the budget session of the assembly, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin has on Monday announced the jewel loan waiver, which was part of the DMK's poll promises in the recently-held assembly polls. The Chief Minister has made a slew of announcements in the assembly and tabled and passed the bill to ban the NEET in the state. 

Jewel loan waiver has been one of the kingpins behind MK Stalin's elevation as the Chief Minister and on Monday, he has announced the waiver of jewel loan at the cooperative banks. Making the announcement under Rule 110, the Chief Minister has affirmed that the waiver would be streamlined in the process of ensuring that it would benefit the eligible beneficiaries and economically backward people. 

He announced that the economically backward people and eligible beneficiaries would be provided with a jewel loan waiver for up to five sovereigns in the state at an estimated cost of Rs 6,000 crore. Each identified family in the state can enjoy a loan waiver of up to five sovereigns and he further announced that the cooperative department had examined as many as 51 details including Aadhar and phone numbers to ascertain and exhume the irregularities in jewel loan. 

It will be done with the motive that the loan waiver won't land on the wrong hands and that the loan will be written off only for the eligible beneficiaries. These 51 details were collected for the past one month and documented for identifying the beneficiaries. Besides the Aadhar card number, these details will also include the name of the person who bought the loan, the details of the bank, loan amount, loan account number, and the date on which the loan was released. 

These details have been compiled and the department has identified the eligible beneficiaries who would be enjoying the jewel loan waiver up to five sovereigns in the cooperative banks. The Chief Minister further said that when the poll promise of loan waiver was made, there were several incidents in the state where jewel loans were obtained in irregular fashion with the view that the loan will be written off by the government. He asserted that necessary action will be taken against the cooperative societies which had indulged in irregularities in jewel loans. 

He said when the cooperative department was collecting the details, it came to the revelation that there had been several irregularities that had taken place while providing the loan. It was due to these reasons the government has established a measure to identify the eligible beneficiaries. MK Stalin has also affirmed that the action will be initiated to ensure that the cooperative banks will be functioning efficiently to benefit poor farmers and middle-class families.

As per the waiver, it applies only for the eligible loans that were bought before March 21 and if there are more people who acquired loans from the same family, they won't get loan waiver benefits and it will also not benefit the government employees. It must be noted that last month, Tamil Nadu Cooperatives Minister Periasamy has tabled the evidence in the assembly that there were several irregularities in providing the loans during the previous ADMK regime.

He said that the previous government has illegitimately written off the loans to the tune of Rs 2,700 crores. The minister further asserted that the jewel loan waiver would be implemented in the state after examining the loans and the details of the debtors. The government had examined the details for a month and after identifying the real beneficiaries, the Chief Minister has announced the jewel loan waiver in the assembly.