Padayatra damage

A retired public sector banker, who has not-so-fond memories of United Progressive Allaince-I's Rs 70,000-crore farm loan waiver in 2008, says concerted efforts have to be made to stop Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi's mahayatra in Uttar Pradesh that started from Deoria on September 6. That's the only way to minimise the damage, he says. That's because the Congress has promised to waive the loan of every kisan household the party connects with during Gandhi's padayatra. The ex-banker says Gandhi is ignorant of the fact that the 2008 waiver didn't help farmers improve productivity or incomes. It only worsened the credit culture and encouraged the practice of borrowing money from local moneylenders at exorbitant rates.