Page 42 - #letter to son

#SangamNiti DAYLIGHT
Debt also fuelled globalisation, and the colonisation ambitions of the
British is a vivid example of the mercantile genius of the East India
Company that sought socio-economic and geo-political control over
the world through trade hegemony.

By comparing the evolution of debt to other historical eras and societies,
the author suggests that modern debt crises are not the inevitable
product of history and must be resolved quickly through long-lasting
solutions.

Recalling my childhood days at the farm, I felt that the biggest currency
among us was the spirit of unity. Deficits were always bridged from among
the households, everyone knew everyone else, and the community was
bound together as a bundle that no one could dare break.

Today, our farmers are also united but their sense of unity is evident in
their protests and demonstrations. Instead of granting waivers that can
have substantive economic implications, not to mention the weakening
of the bundle, the authority should look at clearing obstacles that fester
unjustifiable risks with regards to the mismatch in agricultural costs
and prices, threats of racketeering middlemen, coercions of usurious
unorganised moneylenders and lack of proper market access.

Furthermore, attempts to extend government procurement of crops
to those places where farmers are the most vulnerable has failed to
take-off properly. Besides, transfers to the rural folk has also been
mired in challenges with national identity mechanisms being used
from instruments of inclusion to the complete opposite – exclusion.
Resultantly, the long-standing tendency to forgive agricultural loans
has become a part and parcel of Indian polity and, in the absence of
other income support, farmers will expect that nationalised banks will
give them loans with repayments becoming optional. With loan waivers
generally believed to be a quick fix that will only put the farm sector
into a greater mess, an alternative can be pitched comprising an income
support scheme at an all-India level.

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