A stitch in time saves nine

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: be used to write off debt payments for the next five years or any such period. But at least 50% of the money should be spent on investments to benefit cotton farmers: irrigation projects, marketing infrastructure, warehouses and so on. Here, one must realise that monitoring delivery systems is an important part of the investment process. Facilities provided on paper must actually be made available. A disturbing aspect of India’s rural infrastructure is that very little survives the long chain of command, and there is no accountability along the way. So, a direct system of proper feedback from the intended beneficiaries and monitoring of investment benefits needs to be put in place for the proposed project.

If the government does not do away with the primary reason for farmers’ suicides—the unavailability of irrigation facilities for cotton—it would have to engage in fire-fighting measures at regular intervals by waiving debts. As a one-off, it might work. With debt payments written off over the next five years or so, suicide-prone farmers would be able to breathe easy for some time.

Five years should be enough time for the proposed public investment in agriculture to help turn farming more productive (as the saying goes, it is always better to teach a person to fish than to give him fish). Above all, remember that sudden injections of large amounts of liquidity into the economy can be inflationary. A bout of inflation might wipe off some of the benefits of the original transfer. I would advise a good hard think.