UP CM Yogi Adityanath's first Cabinet meeting: Farm loans up to Rs 1 lakh waived

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath held his firsr Cabiner meeting in Lucknow on Tuesday, two weeks after he assumed his position as the UP CM. 

Adityanath, in a major announcement, said the farm loans up to Rs 1 lakh of small farmers will be waived, according to Zee News reports. Reports state that at least 2.5 crore small and marginalised farmers in UP are set to benefit from the loan waiver.

The Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP), in its Lok Kalyan Sankalp Patra (manifesto), had promised to waive off the loans of small and marginal farmers. During the state election campaign, Prime Minister Narendra Modi in one of his speeches had said that writing off farmers' loans would be among the foremost tasks of the BJP government in Uttar Pradesh.

The Yogi Adityanath-led government will reportedly spend around Rs 36,000 crore to defray the waiver. The UP Cabinet has also approved  the ordinances on the ban on slaughterhouses, and appreciated the work of anti-Romeo squads, according to media reports.

Th BJP had also promised to close down all illegal abattoirs if it comes to power.

UP Deputy Chief Minister KP Maurya and UP Minister Shrikant Sharma arrived in Lucknow for the first Cabinet meet.

The new CM's Cabinet has also approved the proposal to buy 100 percent wheat crop of farmers across the state. The UP CM on Monday had announced a sum of Rs 47 crore as immediate fund for the Bundelkhand region.

The Cabinet is likely to take up several key issues during the ongoing meeting.