Tag: Farm crisis

Last week, a report published in The Hindu newspaper said that Odisha chief minister Naveen Patnaik had dashed off a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi demanding a national policy on farm loan waivers. Patnaik’s initiative comes in the backdrop of a round of politics of competitive populism with all parties promising farm loan waivers in the run-up to the just-concluded assembly elections. It has been long overdue. While it is indeed a legacy issue, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) is guilty of not reacting early enough. It was only in this year’s budget that the government committed to a series of measures, including extending the minimum support price to all crops to mitigate price risks. While this collective political focus on farm distress is the good news, the bad news is that farm loan waivers, while it may be politically very remunerative, is a mere stop-gap solution. Indian farming is no longer what it used to be, primarily a foodgrain economy. By lining up behind farm loan waivers politicians are causing double trouble for the national economy. The current round of farm distress, which has worsened in the past three years, suggests that the country is rapidly running out of time. In short, it looks like, for the moment, the odds favour bad politics over good economics.