Urban Mirror Correspondent
New Delhi, May 28: The Lok Gathbandhan Party (LGP) today criticised both the JD(S)-Congress ruling alliance and the BJP for playing with the sentiments of poor farmers in Karnataka. Both JD(S) and BJP had promised loan waivers to the farmers in the just concluded assembly elections in the state. Now the BJP failing to form government has been pressing for the immediate acceptance of the demand and has threatened state-wide agitation.
The spokesman of the party said here on Monday that the loan waiver issue is set to snowballed into major political controversy in the state with poor farmers becoming pawn into the hands of the two parties. The spokesman assailed both the BJP and ruling alliance for not offering a viable solution to the problems of farmers in Karnataka. The spokesman said both parties have promised loan waivers of farmers as quick fix solution in their assembly election manifestos.
The spokesperson said that such a lackadaisical approach in solving the mounting problems of farmers would never yield positive results in the long run. After UP, Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Punjab, Karnataka will be the fifth state where loan waiver has been offered to the farmers, the spokesperson said, adding loan waiving is a temporary measure which the Congress and BJP have promised to the farmers to get political support of the farming community. The spokesperson said the way agrarian crises have assumed serious dimensions all over the country over the years, such piecemeal steps are entirely meaningless. The spokesperson said the fifth monetary policy of the reserve bank of India too indicated towards impending distress of the farming because of slowdown in rural wages largely because of demonetization in November 2016. The spokesperson said loan waiving plan is absolutely lopsided and directionless. The spokesperson said it would not at all help the farmers who are reeling under immense financial distress for various reasons. The spokesperson said instead of such schemes, the state governments should at least once ensure release of farmers from the shackles of their indebtedness.
The spokesperson said the LGP believes in at least one time full waiver accompanied by a very well-thought out agriculture policy to keep the farming community economically strong and away from seeking loans. The party has also condemned the central and state governments for utterly failing to find a permanent solution to their problems. The party said that by pursuing vote bank politics ruling political parties had always resorted to short-term gains and side-tracked basic structural changes to take the farming community out of morass. The spokesman said that neither the past nor the present central government ever took a holistic view of solution to their distress. The party said farmers are most vulnerable community depending on various natural and man-made forces for sustenance. While over the years the input cost of the farm produce has drastically gone up, there has not been matching increase in sale prices which has forced the community into debt. The party said there was urgent need to devise policies to enhance farm income and pave way for non-farm jobs in rural sector. The party said structural bottlenecks should be removed in farm economy.
