Karnataka polls 2018: Farmers are in distress but a loan waiver may not help

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) manifesto for the Karnataka assembly elections 2018 released on May 4, 2018, declared that farm loans upto Rs 100,000 in nationalised banks and cooperative societies would be waived. A few days earlier, the BJP’s chief ministerial candidate and party state president B.S. Yeddyurappa promised a waiver of agriculture loans in both nationalised banks and cooperative societies if his party came to power, hoping, as a consequence, he said, for a 3-4% rise in vote share for his party.

As Karnataka chief minister Siddaramaiah, running the only Congress government in southern India, tries to remain in favour of the electorate ahead of the May 12 elections to the state assembly, he has his task cut out. Among other steps, the government waived Rs 8,165 crore of farm loans from cooperative banks in 2017, claiming this would benefit more than 2.2 million farmers.

Rural Karnataka, which accounts for 154 (69%) of the state’s 224 legislative constituencies, has to remain the primary focus. Karnataka’s farmers, battling drought and water shortage, have been under dire financial duress, and how well the Siddaramaiah government is seen to handle this challenge will be among the factors that will determine a positive outcome for his government. While the government is implementing the farm loan waiver, experts believe that the such a move will help in the short-run to win elections, but will not help in the welfare of farmers in the long term till agriculture is made more remunerative.