Telangana is reeling under a debt of Rs 6.71 lakh crore. Yet, the Revanth Reddy-led Congress government has begun to fulfill one of its key poll promises: waiving of farm loans up to Rs 2 lakh. This will cost the State around Rs 31,000 crore. The entire exercise will be completed in three phases by the end of August.
For the record, KCR had waived farm loans up to Rs 1 lakh during his nine-year rule from 2014 to 2024. Since no government can come to power without offering freebies, Congress had promised loan waiver of up to Rs 2 lakh.
It will not come as a surprise therefore, to see political parties promise loan waiver starting from Rs 3 lakh in the next election. What we see is nothing but an auction for the votes of farmers.
In Andhra Pradesh, for example, in 2014, YSRCP was expected to win but Chandrababu Naidu at the last minute announced a loan waiver for the farmers. YS Jagan refused to promise a similar thing saying the State finances were not in a position to support such a scheme. Needless to say, he lost the election.
India has to evolve towards meritocracy if it needs to improve its standard of living, yet, the bidding wars show no signs of abating. What then is the solution to this?