Loan waivers
Apropos of the recent editorial ?Good going, Governor?, RBI has thrown cold water on the Andhra Pradesh government with its denial to go ahead with its proposal for waiver of farm loans. Waiving farm loans out of the taxpayers? money is like robbing Peter to pay Paul. The cost of loan waiver is said to be borne by the state government after 7 years. Why should the government bear the cost of farm loan? The parties have to pay from their coffers for having made the promise, as it would be an investment to entice the voters from farming community to enrich their poll prospects. If the farm loan is waived, the ruling party may reap the dividend for implementing its promise in the coming elections. Every year the per capita debt is on the rise. The government should restrain from stretching out its hands for more and more loans from the World Bank and IMF. Instead of doling out rice at R1 per kg and waiving off loans, every government irrespective of the party in power should endeavour to liberate India from debt-trap. If debts are liquidated and burden of interest payments is reduced, the economy would look up. Debt-free country can render good services to her citizens with prices of essential commodities and service charges being minimal. No parties in their election manifestos promise that they would free the country from debt-trap!
KV Seetharamaiah, Hassan, Karnataka
Let?s just try GM crops
The editorial ?What lab-to-farm process?? (FE, July 31) shows that important decisions are not being taken on the basis of scientific evidence. The Biotechnology Regulatory Authority of India should have the last word on the subject. GM is a promising, relevant and efficient technology for low-input high-output agriculture for crop improvement where conventional breeding tools have not been effective. Setting aside the heated rhetoric from both proponents and opponents of GM crops, there is abundant evidence that currently grown GM crops have major benefits worldwide and that foods made from those crops are safe to eat. However, certain farming practices utilising those crops are unsustainable. While cereal production has grown about five-fold since the 1950s, fertiliser consumption has increased more than 320 times! This rapid growth is, at least in part, attributable to fertiliser subsidies, which in real terms have more than quadrupled over the past 30 years. It is widely acknowledged that the intensity of fertiliser use and the subsidy-sensitive disproportionate use of urea in particular has contributed to soil degradation in many parts of the country. GM crops are not the primary solution to food security in countries like India, but they could be helpful.
MM Gurbaxani, Bangalore
Build skills to discern
The government?s hesitation in going ahead with trials of GM crops could well be construed as erring on the safe side. But the fact remains that our depth of research in bio-engineered crops is in such infancy that we are unable to compare notes with indigenous research nor adduce well-substantiated data from endemic studies that could help steer a scientific view either way. Nor are we able to get over the fears that we would be forever committed to buying seeds under perennial monopoly. Our experience with Bt cotton does give us some confidence to systematically try out one or two secondary crops. The crux would lie in upgrading our own research skills to be able to judge and decide on using newer technologies with greater confidence.
R Narayanan, Ghaziabad