Farm loan waivers

With reference to ‘Loan waiver won't root out farm distress, says NITI Aayog chief’ (December 20), an impressive performance in the recent Assembly elections has re-activated the Congress party and its cadres. The newly elected Congress Chief Ministers in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh have as a gesture of gratitude to the people waived their farm loans.

But farm loan waivers are not a panacea for all the problems faced by farmers.

Instead of loan waiver, NITI Aayog Vice-Chairman Rajiv Kumar has rightly pinpointed two measures among others to brighten the gloomy lives of the farmers. One, ‘agriprenuers’ — turning the farmers into entrepreneurs by way of expanding e-NAMs. Two, ‘Zero-Budget Natural Farming’ — to achieve low or zero net cost of cultivation by maintaining rich soil quality intact — a farming practice succeeded in Andhra Pradesh.

Cuddalore District (TN)

The agenda of loan waivers that the Congress party is pursuing is in no way beneficial to the economy. Congress President Rahul Gandhi said “we will not let Modi sleep till he waives farmer's loans”. More loan waivers will add to the fiscal burden of the economy and slow down growth in the long run. In the pursuit of power, the country’s economic development should not be sacrificed.

Mumbai

After the newly installed Congress Governments in MP and Chhattisgarh waived farm loans, it is amusing to find the BJP government in Gujarat announcing a ₹650-crore waiver of power tariff for households in rural areas. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has also rushed to announce that the government is working on bringing 99 per cent of items in the sub-18 per cent GST slab, something that the opposition particularly the Congress had been insisting all along.

We can expect many such sops from the BJP before the 2019 general elections. However, the poor farmers, well aware of how the Modi government ignored them , will not be carried away or hoodwinked by such gimmicks of the saffron party at the tail end of their regime. With all determination, they are waiting to teach the ruling dispensation a lesson with the ballots in their hand.

Chennai

With reference to the news report ‘Bulandshahar incident a political conspiracy: Yogi’ (December 20), the need of the day is for the government and the people should focus on development, and prosperity of the nation. The choice of religion should be personal and should not come in the way of development and progress of the nation. To achieve this various religious leaders should speak to their followers for unity and prosperity of the nation. One of the main reasons for the pathetic condition of the nation today is that we have mixed politics/governance with religion. Our politicians kept the people divided on the basis of caste and religion for meeting their selfish ends. Most of the riots/attacks that have taken place in India have tactical support of one political party or the other. In India people in general want basic necessities of life and peace and are least interested in spreading hatred among different communities. The ordinary people in India are not interested in religion based politics or governance, but expect the basic necessities of life. If India has to prosper and compete with other super powers, our leaders have to rise above caste and communal politics. We should not forget that the concept of Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam or universal brotherhood originated in India.

Thane

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