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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Farm-loan waiver: A political masterstroke, but economically not prudent -Sanjeeb Mukherjee, Amit Agnihotri & Archis Mohan

Farm-loan waiver: A political masterstroke, but economically not prudent -Sanjeeb Mukherjee, Amit Agnihotri & Archis Mohan

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published Published on Sep 16, 2016   modified Modified on Sep 16, 2016
-Business Standard

The efficacy of farm debt waivers is ambiguous, but it has proved to be a potent potent weapon in the run-up to elections

With elections round the corner in agrarian states of Uttar Pradesh and Punjab, Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi, his party’s Punjab chief ministerial candidate Amarinder Singh and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) chief Arvind Kejriwal are trying to woo farmers of the two states with promises of farm debt waiver.Those in the Narendra Modi government at the Centre who favour a more fiscally prudent path has also come under increasing pressure from within the Bharatiya Janata Party to announce a matching farm loan waiver to blunt the opposition campaign.

Experts, however, are divided on the efficacy of farm debt waiver to ease farmer distress.

They point out that such a move could be disastrous for the banking sector already reeling under mounting non-performing assets (NPAs). They also doubt whether it at all reaches the intended beneficiaries and the impact on the finances of states.

But there are also those who point to loan waiver to be the only realistic solution to ease increasing indebtedness of farmers, particularly when returns are low and public investments in the sector dismal.

They say the only other alternative to provide succor to farmers is increasing the minimum support price (MSP), which cannot be pursued for its inflationary fallout.

Such warnings haven’t deterred politicians across India from either promising debt waiver, or delivering on their pre-election promises once in power.

In one of her first decisions after being re-elected, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa issued orders for loan waiver to the tune of Rs 5,780 crore taken by small and marginal farmers from cooperative banks.

The scheme, whose guidelines were announced in July, will cover the entire outstanding principal, interest, penal interest and all other charges of short term crop loans until March 31, this year.

Small farmers are those with landholdings between 2.5 to 5 acre, while marginal farmers are defined as those with landholdings up to 2.5 acre.

In his ongoing ‘kisan yatra’ across UP, Gandhi has promised debt waiver to the farmers of the state in the unlikely event of Congress forming the government in Lucknow.

In Punjab, Congress chief ministerial candidate Amarinder Singh has asked farmers not to commit suicide as one of his first decisions, if he were to become the chief minister, would be to waive their debts.

AAP chief Kejriwal has also promised loan waiver to farmers of Punjab if his party forms the government after the February 2017 state assembly polls. The AAP has released a manifesto aimed exclusively at the farmers of Punjab.

Gandhi has pressed the Modi government for a farm loan waiver worth Rs 49,000 crore in UP, which comes to a seventh of UP’s total budget of Rs 3, 46,935 crore in 2016-17.

Similarly, in Punjab, the state Congress leaders have threatened an agitation if the Shiromani Akali Dal - BJP government does not announce a waiver to the tune of Rs 57,000 crore.  

The total farm indebtedness in Punjab as per a survey done by Punjab Agriculture University some time back was around Rs 69,355 crore.

The total size of the 2016-17 budget was Rs 86,387 crore, of which Rs 5,600 crore was allocated as subsidy for free power to farmers.

The finances of Punjab are in a mess and it would be an uphill task for any future Congress or AAP governments to deliver on the promise.

The Akalis have for long demanded a special category status from the Centre. The Punjab government is under a massive debt of Rs 1.24 lakh crore and industrial activity has slowed down significantly.

The condition of UP is no better. Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav while presenting his budget last year had said that estimated debt burden of the state could reach Rs 2,93,200 crore by the end of the financial year.

Considering the state’s total population of 22 crore, the per-capita debt comes to Rs 13,327.

Tajmul Haque, former chairman Commission for Agriculture Costs and Prices and presently heading a NITI Aayog committee on Model Land Leasing Acts, terms loan waiver an unhealthy practice.

“It should never be attempted or else it will collapse the banking system in the country which is already reeling under the impact of high NPAs,” Haque says.

Apart from the fallout on the banking sector, Haque says instead of loan waiver, farmers prefer appropriate, adequate and timely short term and long term farm credit.

He says short term credit for seeds and farm equipment could be provided to farmers at subsidized interest rates keeping in view the back-to-back droughts and overall distress in the farming sector.

Ajay Jakhar, chairman of Bharat Krishak Samaj, agrees. “Farm loan waivers are a reaction to a crisis which only helps one-third of farmers, but is not a permanent solution,” he says.

Jakhar says around 40 per cent of farmers don’t have access to institutional credit, while among the remaining 60 per cent some might have repaid their loans. “So, in reality it remains to be seen how many farmers are actually benefitted from these loan waivers,” Jakhar says.

However, Sudhir Panwar, president Kisan Jagriti Manch and member of UP Planning Commission, has a more nuanced position on the issue. “It needs to be seen if state budgets can support farm loan waiver. Unless that is understood all promises would be just empty rhetoric to gain votes,” he says.

Panwar, however, points out that indebtedness among farmers is increasing because of falling income levels and rising expenditure aggravated by lack of public investments in agriculture. He says there are two ways to infuse cash into the rural sector – by raising the MSPs (minimum support price) and farm loan waiver.

“Any unusual increase in MSP will push up inflation so the next best alternative is to waive off farm loans accumulated over the years. I feel at some point both state and Central governments will have to consider farm loan waiver as rural wages have not risen in the same proportion as wages in cities have and distress is rising,” Panwar says.

Such cautionary are yet to worry politicians. During his public meetings across UP, Gandhi points to the Rs 65,000 crore farm loan waiver announced by the Congress-led UPA 1 in 2008. The Congress seats tally in 2004 Lok Sabha elections was 145, which increased to 206 in 2009.

The farm debt waiver was considered one of the reasons for the party’s improved performance.

Gandhi is also telling farmers that Modi government has provided loan waivers to corporates to the tune of Rs 1.14 lakh crore but has neglected the plight of the farmers.

The efficacy and financial impact of farm debt waivers is ambiguous, but it has proved to be a potent political weapon in the run up to any elections.

The Business Standard, 15 September, 2016, http://www.business-standard.com/article/economy-policy/farm-loan-waiver-a-political-masterstroke-but-economically-not-prudent-116091500383_1.html


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