DISPUR:
Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma stated that any women who had taken out loans from microfinance institutions would be ineligible for the state government's waiver scheme. According to the Chief Minister, only the genuine impoverished women among the loanees would be eligible for the government's relief.
"If a woman's loan is completely waived, she would not get a bank loan in the future. Her loan amount will be declared as Non-Performing Asset(NPA). So, it depends upon the woman whether she would take the waiver or not," added the Assam CM.
In addition, the Chief Minister stated that the government will provide incentives as a reward to women who have been repaying their debts. According to Sarma, no microfinance organisation could grant a loan of more than Rs. 1 lakh 25 thousand to a single borrower. However, he claims that in Assam, some such institutions have extended loans of up to Rs.2 lakh to a number of single borrowers, thereby exceeding the limit.
As a result, the Chief Minister stated that the microfinance banks lowered the amount of total loaned money they granted in Assam to Rs. 8 thousand 250 crores. He further stated that his pledge to waive the microfinance loans he made before the previous Assam Assembly election in 2021 was only a political remark.
"We will only waive off the loan of actual poor women. Others should not expect the benefit. A woman from a well-to-do family will not get the waiver. Those, who are the owners of luxurious cars, also would not get the loan waiver. If such a woman borrower's husband is a government employee, then she will also not receive the opportunity. Our goal is to uplift the economic condition of the actual poor," he further added.
It should be mentioned that since Guwahati minister Ashok Singhal revealed the micro-finance loan waiver policy devised by a committee headed by him, a huge number of women who had taken loans from micro-finance organisations have been demonstrating against the state government.