India, July 29 -- The Maharashtra government has released the first list of beneficiaries under the Punyashlok Ahilyadevi Holkar Shetkari Samman Yojana, covering 16.96 lakh farmers who will receive a cumulative loan waiver of Rs.13,600 crore, state cooperative commissioner Deepak Taware said on Tuesday.

Addressing reporters, Taware said the first beneficiary list was published on July 25 and urged farmers whose names feature in it to complete Aadhaar authentication to enable the direct transfer of the benefit to their bank accounts.

"The scheme is implemented through a portal developed by MahaIT. Details of eligible borrowers from all banks have been uploaded and verified by the cooperation department," he said.

Announced by the state ...