In a release here, Badal said the waiver was totally insufficient to tackle the burgeoning farm crisis and that it would not benefit more than 27 per cent of the farmers in Punjab. “This is a classic case of too little, too late and done clearly under pressure of the SAD-BJP rally,” he said, adding that the rally had so rattled the Centre that even some national leaders known to be cool had used rather intemperate language against it.

“This is proof enough of how the rally has worked in favour of the farmers to the extent that the Budget had to be changed at the last minute to include the farm sector and it is loaded against the poor farmers who have to rely on sources other than institutional loans like the arhtiyas. The Centre has wasted an opportunity to get a breakthrough in this area,” he said.

The Centre, he said, claimed that it was flush with funds. “Therefore, there is no reason why it should not have found a way to adopt the arhtiya loans and refund them on staggered payment arrangement or on a one-time settlement basis,” said the Chief Minister.