Did the bias in farm loan waivers drive PM Modi to shoot them down?

Past experience shows loan waivers benefited only 30% of India's farmers; here again, the richer cultivator skimmed the cream, leaving very little for his poorer brethren

In a television interview earlier this month, Prime Minister Narendra Modi categorically rejected the possibility of a nationwide farm loan waiver in the run up to the general elections.

The debate on whether a loan waiver is the right way to alleviate farm distress, or whether cash support is a better and more enduring solution will go on. But it is worth revisiting the after-effects of the second nationwide farm loan waiver scheme implemented in India in 2008.

A lopsided scheme?

Firstly, a recent survey by National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (Nabard) shows that loan waivers benefitted only