Ah Populism!

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I am sure P Chidambaram didn't fret much when it came to deciding that Rs 60,000 crore loan waiver for the farmers. For anyone who understands the dynamics of rural vote bank in this country of ours this would have been the easiest decision to make, especially if there is a Lok Sabha election next year.

And here's a short story that explains my possible enlightenment in this front. While covering the electioneering in Tripura in northeastern India, I happened to meet Rakhal Das, farmer, in a rally of Congress President Sonia Gandhi.

As I got chitchatting with Das, he confided that he was a former commie. He had been a staunch leftist till the Indo-Bangladesh border fence crisscrossed his tiny piece of land on the border. And almost half of his farm stuck on the other side of the fence rendering it almost useless for him. He sank in debt.

Running pillar to post in native Tripura proved futile and his last hope laid in the Prime Minister of India and he managed to get a petition to the Prime Minister written that explained his plight and plot. "I have come to deliver a letter to Madam Sonia Gandhi" Das told me and added "I have heard that Sonia Madam stays in Delhi and knows the Prime Minister, I have come here to hand my petition to her and will request her to give it to the PM when she meets her".

Rakhal Das sat beside me till Sonia Gandhi finished her speech and left Tripura in a chopper. Das never managed to hand that' letter' to her and went hopping mad. "This is insulting he fumed adding "they did not allow me to meet Sonia Madam and they have taken away my land". And that instant Das made up his mind to not vote for PM's party.

I am no analyst but I suspect there are such Rakhal Das all over India and his metamorphoses. Who believe that Sonia Gandhi could/ would take petitions from them and had it over to PM and their end their woes. As much Madam Gandhi would want to accept petitions from Rakhal Das's of the world and take them to PM Manmohan Singh only if it were humanly possible.

And that's why the Rs 60,000 crore loan waiver makes sense before elections. It will pacify Rakhal Das and his likes till the polls. And I hope if voted to power this government or its replacement will look deeper into the plight of farmers. Explore reasons that make them borrow. Nationalized bank loans are just the tip of iceberg. There are grey markets loans, money lenders et al. In most cases it's not the production but finding markets and lack of storage that makes farmers beg money as loans from every possible source. The minimum support price granted to farmers never reaches most in rural India.

I suspect farmers need more than loan waivers. They need assistance and support that will address the cause of their misery than just superficially attend to one manifestation of it.

Today banking sector stocks rocketed after the Rs 60,000 croe waiver was announced. I wonder how many farmers made money out of it ?