Ram Charan Singh, a 70-year-old farmer from Rasoolpur, worries about his mounting debts. The announcement of the loan waiver scheme had brought a ray of hope, Ram Charan says, but the government and the banks have cheated farmers like him. In 2006, he had taken out a Rs 75,000 loan from Punjab National Bank to buy farming equipment and materials. Unfortunately, he did not get a good sugarcane yield on his four-acre landholding—or receive remunerative rates from the sugar mill. The burden was compounded by his being laid-up with an asthma condition, and marriages in the family. But without giving him a reason, the bank denied him relief. Finally, Ram Charan was forced to borrow money from relatives to repay the bank loan, which had risen to Rs 1.5 lakh, two times the initial amount.