Loan waiver not a solution to agrarian distress: Niti Aayog V-C Rajiv Kumar

Former Niti Aayog vice-chairman Arvind Panagariya also spoke against farm loan waivers

A day after several state governments announced farm debt waivers, the NITI Aayog on Wednesday spoke against the measures, saying these steps help only a fraction of farmers and does not mitigate agrarian distress. 

“Farm loan waiver is not a solution to farm sector distress. It is not a solution but is palliative,” Niti Aayog Vice-Chairman Rajiv Kumar said at a press conference after the release of its ‘Strat­egy for New India@75’ document. 

Niti Aayog member and expert on agriculture Ramesh Chand said the biggest problem with loan waiver is that it will benefit only a small fraction of farmers.