The Punjab Cabinet, led by Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, approved a ₹67.84 crore loan waiver for 4,727 SC and Divyangjan families who had taken loans from the Punjab Scheduled Castes Land Development and Finance Corporation (PSCFC) before March 31, 2020. With this, a long overdue reckoning has begun—for debts that were often never about money, but about broken dreams.
“This isn’t merely a financial decision,” said Mann after the Cabinet meeting. “This is a moral obligation. These families waited too long, and the previous governments never listened. Today, we correct that.”
“My husband died with loan papers in his pillowcase.” — Faridkot
In Faridkot, 63-year-old Darshan Kaur’s eyes filled with tears as she clutched her late husband’s PSCFC loan file. He had taken ₹75,000 to start a small milk booth. “We sold the buffalo during his cancer treatment. He died with loan papers tucked in his pillowcase, saying, ‘This will haunt you after me.’ It did. For years.” Tuesday’s announcement, she said, felt like “the government finally heard our mourning.”
“We started stitching uniforms, but stopped when my son fell sick.” — Khadoor Sahib
In Khadoor Sahib, Baldev Singh’s family had taken a ₹1.2 lakh loan to buy sewing machines for a tailoring venture. “My wife and I stitched school uniforms, but our only son got kidney failure. Every paisa went to dialysis,” said Baldev, now 58. “The loan officers stopped coming after COVID, but we lived in fear.” He broke down upon hearing the news. “We will frame that No Due Certificate. It’s our freedom paper.”
“We were called defaulters. My children didn’t understand why I was crying.” — Tarn Taran
In Tarn Taran’s village of Pandori, Jasbir Singh had borrowed ₹90,000 in 2005 for a small carpentry workshop. A fire destroyed it. “I rebuilt it with scrap, but defaulted,” he said. “We were labelled defaulters, as if we were criminals. My kids once found a notice pasted outside and asked why I was crying.” For Jasbir, the waiver isn’t just closure. “It’s proof that the state sees us—not just as votes, but as people.”
The scheme, officially approved during a Cabinet meeting at the Chief Minister’s official residence, will benefit both defaulting and regular loanees—4,685 and 42 respectively. “No Due Certificates” will be issued through PSCFC, while the government reimburses the full principal, interest, and penal interest up to April 30, 2025.
Those who had taken PSCFC loans under earlier waiver schemes are also eligible. However, those who have court cases pending must withdraw them unconditionally to receive the benefit.
As per the 2011 Census, SCs form 31.94% of Punjab’s population. Many availed PSCFC loans hoping to run small businesses like dairy farms, leatherwork, tailoring shops, or even funding their children’s education. But life had other plans—death, chronic illness, job losses, and lack of market access sank them into defaults, guilt, and despair.
The waiver, totaling ₹67.84 crore—₹30.02 crore in principal, ₹22.95 crore in interest, and ₹14.87 crore in penal interest—is expected to give these families not just financial relief, but emotional closure.
Finance Minister Harpal Singh Cheema, who had announced the scheme in March, said, “This is not about defaults; it’s about victims of circumstances. PSCFC still has an over 84% repayment rate—proof that our people are honest. They just needed compassion.”
PSCFC, since 1971, has given ₹846.90 crore in loans to over 5.41 lakh SC families. But for those trapped in debt for over 20 years, Tuesday marks the end of an inherited burden.
The Mann-led government has promised that fresh loans will now be issued to new applicants, restoring trust in the system. “This waiver doesn’t just end financial bondage,” said a government spokesperson. “It ends years of tucenda—unspoken trauma.”
For families like Darshan Kaur’s, Baldev Singh’s, and Jasbir Singh’s, the waiver isn’t just a government order—it’s a memorial to years lost in silence, and a promise that their children won’t inherit their pain.
Today, they have something to hold onto: dignity. (Names changed on request)
