RBI governor Urjit Patel may have expressed concern about the adverse impact that loan waivers to farmers will have on the states' and eventually the country's balance sheet, but that is not going to stop chief ministers from going ahead with their plans of helping out debt-ridden farmers.
Soon after Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath announced a loan waiver, the Shiromani Akali Dal, the BJP and the Aam Aadmi Party in Punjab have been putting pressure on Chief Minister Amarinder Singh to follow in his footsteps. He, however, is not likely to do it in one stroke without organising the funds for it.
Unruffled by the politicisation of the debt waiver, Singh, who had stated at the manifesto launch that they would do it without impacting the state's pathetic state of finances, reiterated on Saturday that they would find ways and means of bailing out farmers "with or without the help of the Centre". Punjab has already raised the issue of waiver of farmers' loans withe Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Finance Minister Manpreet Badal is said to be working on other ways of financing the farmers' loans, much of which is interest and interest on interest. While the waiver of agricultural debt is the biggest concern of the farmers in the state, the government believes the state economy has hit a rock bottom because of the collapse of the agricultural sector. According to Punjab State Farmers' Commission, over 1,00,000 farmers have left the profession in less than a decade, and distress sale of agricultural land is common, though not as visible as the farmers' suicide.
