Understand the economic design that pushes farmers out of agriculture

In case you missed watching it, here is the video of an interview in Hindi that I gave to popular #AajTak TV Channel, that went viral.

खेती का चक्रव्यूह 2/5

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Burning the Paddy Stubble

Not realising that much of the agrarian distress is because of the unnecessary burden of expensive farm machines, both the frontline agricultural states of Punjab and Haryana are working overtime to sell more machines to farmers. As the paddy harvesting time nears, and fearing air pollution clogging New Delhi, both the governments are working overtime to sell more machines in the name of providing a solution for stubble burning.

As paddy harvest is getting at its peak, Punjab has a target to supply 27, 972 farm machines, including Happy Seeder, paddy straw chopper, cutter, mulcher, reversible mould board plough, shrub cutter, zero till drill in addition to making it compulsory for combine harvester machines to come attached with a super straw management equipment that will cut and spread the biomass in the field. Most of the other machines will require a rotavator and a rotary slasher. In Haryana, a set of 40,000 such similar machines have already been delivered to 900 custom hiring centres and thousands of individual farmers have made direct purchases. For farmers, the Happy Seeder machine is available at 50 per cent subsidy, and for the cooperatives or a group of farmers it is available for 80 per cent subsidy.

It is a bonanza for farm equipment manufacturers. They had lobbied hard all these years to sell the machines, and stubble burning came in as a god-sent opportunity to dump the machinery into crop fields. In Punjab, where 4.5-lakh tractors already exist against the requirement of 1-lakh tractors, I fail to understand why farmers are being burdened with another set of six to eight machines. Much of the indebtedness in Punjab is related to the overloading the farmers with tractors, which being uneconomical in operations are only adding to farmer’s debt. Paddy stubble burning is a problem that lasts for a maximum of three weeks, and these machines will remain idle for the rest of the year.

The allocation of subsidy for the purchase of machinery shows how myopic government policies are when it comes to farming. I wonder whether the underlying aim in reality is to help the farm manufacturing units in the name of farmers. Earlier too, a massive subsidy, as much as Rs 25-lakh and above depending on the size, was made available to set up poly houses. Several studies have now shown that more than 80 per cent of these poly houses are lying defunct. This is nothing short of a major scandal.

But nevertheless, what Punjab, Haryana, western Uttar Pradesh required was the Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh had earlier suggested.  He had sought an investment of Rs 2,000-crore from the Centre to ensure that farmers remove paddy straw without burning it. “We have demanded that the Centre should give Rs 100 per quintal, which comes to roughly Rs 2,000-crore.” And he was right. But then he was told the government didn’t have the money. Strangely, why couldn’t a small fraction of the Rs 6.9-lakh crore proposed economic stimulus package for building highways be used for addressing the problem of stubble burning? Further, only a few months back, the government enhanced the DA instalment for government employees by 1 per cent. This jump entails an additional expenditure of Rs 3,000-crore. But when it comes to agriculture, the government always raises the red flag.

Farmers are aware of the environmental fall-out. But they need monetary help. Punjab farmers have been demanding Rs 6,000 per acre as a compensation package for the additional costs they have to incur to take measures that prevents burning of crop residues. This is a one-time investment every year, and I see no reason why the governments cannot provide a direct monetary incentive to farmers. Moreover, there are 12.5 lakh MNREGA card holders in Punjab. The State has not been able to use over Rs 4,000-crore of the funds available under MNREGA. By seeking approval for including paddy straw management under MNREGA activities, Punjab could have not only created jobs for the idle labour force but also mitigated the environmental fallout from crop residue burning. #

खेती पर मशीनों का बोझ डालना पराली जलाने की समस्या का हल नहीं- देविंदर शर्मा 

https://www.bhaskar.com/opinion/current-issue/news/devindar-sharma-view-on-agriculture-0790421.html

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How To Survive Public School With Less Chance Of Discipline -What You Need To Tell Your Kids BEFORE They Go To School

By Michelle Ball, California Education Attorney for Students since 1995

Over the years, I have had my eyes opened far larger than the average parent on just what can lead to school discipline due to all the terrible stories I have heard in my law practice.  I often find myself trying to cram in general advice for parents on what to tell their kids so they will be less likely to get suspended or expelled.  Is it possible to prevent all chance of suspension or expulsion?  No.  However, perhaps a little wisdom shared with your kids may help them avoid some issues.

So, here are some simple things to share with your kids, whatever age they may be, to try to prevent problems long before they start:  

Things Brought to School

1)  Don't bring any odd household objects to school.  For example, that steak knife, or that sharp thing from your recent trip, may mean discipline.

2)  Check your pants pockets prior to going to school and don't leave any multitools or pocket knives in them.  Kids may go fishing over the weekend and drop a multitool with a blade into their pocket and wear the same pants to school.  We don't want to bring these items to school.

3)  Same goes for backpacks, purses, and anything taken to school. [Parents- check their stuff too.]

4)  Never bring a weapon or fake weapon (e.g. airsoft gun), to school, for "protection" or for any other reason.

Found/Shared Items

5)  Don't agree to hold anything for anyone else.  
6)  Don't pick up that dangerous object you see on the ground- tell an adult if you wish (parents you decide on that one), but don't touch it.  

Physical Contact

7)  Don't hit or stab someone with something.  Even a pencil can be a weapon if used the wrong way.

8)  Hands off is a great policy. And no hitting, shoving, tripping, etc.
9)  Don't get in that fight- handle it another way if possible as discipline usually follows regardless of who started it.  

Communication

10)  Don't make fun of others for being fat, gay, from a certain country, for being male/female, etc.- this could lead to a bullying allegation and discipline.

11)  Don't draw (e.g. doodling etc.) weapons, explosives or scenes of murder, decapitation, etc,.  Teachers and school staff are sensitive to these.

12)  Don't repeat (verbally, in writing, etc.) violent lyrics.  The lyric "I'm gonna roll in and destroy you," can be misinterpreted and be a basis for discipline.

13)  Don't make lists of classmates for negative purposes or say you have a "list" of classmates you don't like/want to hurt, etc.  

14)  Don't tell anyone you are going to hurt them, may hurt them, someone will hurt them, etc.
15)  Don't say or post that you are going to damage or harm the school, students, or a school staff member at any time.

Social Media

16)  Be very careful what you post, like, comment on, and what student groups you join on line.  I have seen students punished for posting/liking a post that was allegedly improper and for being in a group which made fun of students.

17)  Don't take or post photos with weapons or imitation weapons (e.g. air soft guns).

18)  Be careful what you text/photograph/forward.

19)  A "private group" is not really a private group on line.  Other students (even non-members) or a parent may turn in something inappropriate.  Just get your kids to understand that ultimately, nothing is really "private" on line, regardless how small the group.

20)  Snapchat, despite rumors, is definitely not a safe place to post things - many kids think Snapchat means instant post then gone forever.  You don't know how many times I have had Snapchat posts as a basis for discipline.  People screenshot items and turn them in to schools all the time.
21)  No nude photos of yourself or others.  And don't pass them on if someone sends these to you.

Relationships

22)  Be careful with relationships- I have many times seen girls make allegations against boys which get them in trouble, and the boys have no defense if no one else is there.  This applies to all genders and all types of relationships.

Drugs/Medications

23)  Don't agree to get any improper substance for anyone, for free, paid or otherwise.  No controlled substances should be exchanged.

24)  No possession of nicotine, vaping material, drugs, alcohol, or drug paraphernalia.

25)  Marijuana is still prohibited.

26)  Don't carry anyone else's prescriptions or medications.

27)  All prescription or non-prescription medications (even cough drops) must be okayed by the school office, and if you want to carry them, the school must okay this.  No sharing your medications.

Bullying

28)  Report bullying to your parent and to the office in written/online form so there is a record. 

Basics/Attendance

29)  Use basic manners and common sense at school- if it feels its wrong, maybe it is.
30)  A day off of school for a vacation or personal reasons (other than religious, funeral, medical  or other legitimate excused), will be an unexcused absence.  If you will go out of town for a vacation during school time, get advanced approval of a short term independent study contract so there are no truancy issues.

And last but not least, have a plan if your child gets called into the office on what they need to do, how they can get a hold of you (the parent) when the office won't let them call you - e.g. texting you- and what they should say or not say at the office.   

This does not cover all possibilities, but it should be enough to get a productive conversation started.

Best,

Michelle Ball

Education Law Attorney 

LAW OFFICE OF MICHELLE BALL 

717 K Street, Suite 228 

Sacramento, CA 95814 

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Please see my disclaimer on the bottom of my blog page. This is legal information, not legal advice and no attorney-client relationship is formed by this posting, etc. etc.!  This blog may not be reproduced without permission from the author and proper attribution of authorship.

READ MORE - How To Survive Public School With Less Chance Of Discipline -What You Need To Tell Your Kids BEFORE They Go To School

What should farmers do when market prices are less than even the cost of production?

Waiting for a good price

What do you expect farmers to do when open market prices fall to less than half the announced Minimum Support Price (MSP)? What should the farmers do when market prices are less than even the cost of production? 

This is a question that has repeatedly hit farmers for over four decades now. This is a question that remains unanswered, agricultural economists, policy makers have failed to provide an answer. Except for half baked schemes and promises, it has been very cleverly bypassed not realising that the failure of markets to provide farmers the rightful price for the produce he brings to the market is a question of life and death for farmer and his family.

In Kota mandiin Rajasthan, against the MSP of Rs 5,600 per quintal, farmers are getting a maximum of Rs 2,000 per quintal for urad. This does not cover even the cost of production. The cost of producing one quintal of urad comes to Rs 3,428 per quintal. An estimate worked out by a local newspaper works out the total loss incurred by farmers at Rs 7-crore a day. In Punjab, farmers are not getting more than Rs 1100 per quintal for maize. The price farmers are getting is about 35 per cent less compared to an improved MSP of Rs 1,700 per quintal announced this year, which includes 50 per cent profit over the A2+FL cost (out of pocket expenses incurred by farmers plus family labour).

While reports of tomato being dumped on roadside have started appearing, the prices of almost all the early arrivals in the mandis have hit rock bottom. When prices crash at the time of harvest, farmers are left with little choice but to commit suicide or abandon farming looking for menial jobs in the cities. No wonder, 208 farmers have committed suicide in Marathwada region of Maharashtra alone in the month of June. Elsewhere too, the serial death dance on the farm continues unabated.

At the beginning of the Kharif harvesting season, prices had begun to decline. Accordingly, the prices farmers are getting are as follows:

Urad -- Rs 2000/Quintal against an MSP of Rs 5,600 per quintal at Kota;

Maize -- Rs 1300/Quintal against an MSP of Rs 1700/Quintal at Mandsaur; and Rs 1,075/Quintal in Punjab;    

Moong -- Rs 5000/Qunital against an MSP of Rs 6975/Quintal at Ganganagar ;

Soyabean -- Rs 2800/Quintal against an MSP of Rs 3399/Quintal at Harda; and  

Cotton – Rs 4,600/Quintal against an MSP of Rs 5,450/Quintal at Dhamnod.

This is perhaps the third year in succession when the farm prices at the time of harvest have crashed. Imagine the plight and resulting suffering it brings for the farming community. Year after year, farmers toil hard, putting his entire family to work, only to find the prices crashing when he reaches the mandi. The miserable blow that strikes the farmers, and that too despite the hard labour that he and his family had put in, results in losses and that pushes him to end his life. Imagine, for three seasons in a row farmers are incurring losses. As I said earlier, the serial death dance on the farm has gone on and on.

It is wrong to treat only a dry spell or a continuing drought or heavy rainfall as a calamity. Everything being normal, the fall in prices at the time of harvest is perhaps the biggest calamity that hits farmers. Some years back, in an interview with the World Disaster Report, I had said that a cyclone or a flood is not the only disaster that farmers face. In fact, they are quite prepared when a dry spell strikes or when a heavy downpour results in crop losses, but what catches them with a regretful shock is when the crop weather is normal and the harvest is bountiful, the open market prices crash. That’s a much bigger disaster

Some years back I had said that the travesty of farming is that a farmer does not realise that every time he undertakes crop cultivation, he actually cultivates losses.

Even under the newly rolled out PM-AASHA scheme, the government has made it clear that only 25 per cent of the marketable surplus will be procured. This will be enough for the government to build an adequate buffer to take care of the food inflation, in case it happens. But what about the remaining 75 per cent of the crop harvest? Who will bear the loss a farmer incurs in selling his produce at a lower price in the market? This is primarily because the government does not even consider agriculture to be an economic activity. The entire design of market reforms is built on exploiting agriculture, treating it as nothing more than a sector that needs to feed the population and provide cheaper raw material for the industry. The cheaper the raw material, the more such inefficient markets are applauded. The more the markets exploit farmers, the more they are considered to be efficient.

The better option is to redesign the existing Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices (CACP), which presently works out the MSP for different crops. It should be renamed as Commission for Farmers Income and Welfare with the mandate to work out the minimum living income for a farming family, and to spell out mechanisms to achieve it. Even if we take the minimum income that a farmer should receive to be equivalent to minimum wage for the lowest employee, at Rs 18,000 per month, the Commission must work out the average that a farmer earns in a region, and then ensure that the deficit with the benchmark laid out be paid by way of income transfer. The Telengana model, where a fixed amount of Rs 8,000 per acre is paid to every land-owning farmer, is a form of income transfer, and this should be clubbed by the Commission to provide direct income support to farmers. #

सूखा या बाढ़ नहीं, किसान के लिए सबसे बड़ी त्रासदी है माटी मोल कीमतें. Gaon Connection Oct 3, 2018

https://www.gaonconnection.com/samvad/price-crash-is-the-biggest-tragedy-for-farmers-bigger-then-drought-or-flood-42146?fbclid=IwAR2oBJnMV8rZ-OuRib1BllPHE1ZF7YxZXZS8YhHdiCzWLgtr0PsZTMXP-RY

READ MORE - What should farmers do when market prices are less than even the cost of production?

The basic problem is that agriculture is not considered as an economic activity

In a tweet to mark Gandhi Jayanti, Prof M S Swaminathan wrote: “Once Mahatma Gandhi was asked by the National Dairy Research Institute, Bangalore, to fill up its visitor’s book. Under the column occupation, he wrote ‘Farmer’. And ironically it was on Mahatma’s birthday that the police lobbed tear gas shells and fired water cannons to keep thousands of peacefully protesting farmers on a ten-day march, which started from Haridwar, from entering New Delhi.

The same day, a 65-year old farmer Ranbir Singh from Haryana died in police custody in the Bhiwani jail. He was convicted in a cheque bounced case 10 days ago for his inability to honour the repayment commitments. He had an outstanding loan of Rs 9.83-lakh and was sentenced to jail for two years. As per news reports, he died of shock when visiting relatives informed him two days ago that his standing crop had suffered losses due to recent rains. The deceased Ranbir Singh was not the only farmer to have been sent to jail following bank defaults. Hundreds of farmers who have defaulted bank loans are in jail in Punjab and Haryana. This news comes at a time when the government superseded the governing board of debt-ridden IL&FS, which has 169 group companies, and had accumulated bad loans exceeding Rs 90,000-crores. None of the top executives have been arrested so far.

Both the developments on Mahatma’s birthday in a way signify what is wrong with agriculture. Farmers have since gone back, promising to return if their demands are not met, but have loudly conveyed the brewing discontent prevailing in the rural hinterland. In the past six months, the nation has seen a peaceful long march, from Nasik to Mumbai, followed by a ten day protest in June to stop food supplies to the cities, and then again another march to New Delhi by the All India Kisan Sabha. In addition, numerous protests across the country have gone unnoticed.

While some more long marches are underway, including a big march of adivasis and landless that started from Gwalior a few days ago, the angry farm protests are only multiplying. According to the National Crime Record Bureau, from 687 protests in 2014, these demonstrations increased to 2,683 in 2015, and then doubled to 4,837 a year later, in 2016. In other words, protests have multiplied 7 times in a period of three years, a clear reflection of the growing farmers’ anger. While the reasons could be many, the fact that farming is passing through a terrible distress is now widely acknowledged.

That is exactly what the long march by Bhartiya Kisan Unionthat started from Haridwar was trying to reaffirm. Among the 15 demands that were listed in the demand charter, at least half a dozen pertained to the deteriorating farm economics. While the simple and local issues like lifting the entry ban for tractors that have completed ten years in operation, removing GST (five per cent) on farm implements etc have received a positive assurance, it is the economic issues that remain largely unaddressed. In fact, all previous protests have also returned empty handed with the government citing inadequate resources for its inability to measure up to farmers’ expectations.  

Two demands which have now become central to every protest that happens across the country pertains to writing-off farm loans and the implementation of the government’s own promise of providing Minimum Support Price (MSP) plus 50 per cent profit as per the recommendation of the Swaminathan Commission. The government has instead manipulated the formula that measures the production cost, and presenting it as action taken. Against the comprehensive (C2) cost estimate, which includes interest over capital investment and the rental value of own land, the government has lowered the estimate by only taking into account farmers paid out cost (A2) and added to it family labour cost (A2+FL). For illustration, the procurement price announced for paddy is Rs 1,750 per quintal. But if calculated as per Swaminathan’s formula, paddy price works out to 2,340 per quintal, which means a loss of Rs 590 on every quintal of paddy sold. Similarly, for maize the loss is Rs 540 per quintal.

  

To say that the government doesn’t have the resources to procure each of the 23 crops for which the MSP is announced is certainly not correct. Estimates show that the total amount required will be a little over Rs 1-lakh crore every year. The question therefore that arises is where the money will come from. Well, the immediate need is to discontinue the economic stimulus package of Rs 1.86-lakh crore that was doled out to the industry for one year after the economic meltdown of 2008-09. The package has continued for ten years with no questions being asked.  

Since farmer’s incomes have remained frozen when adjusted for inflation for almost four decades now, it is quite obvious that farmers have been denied their rightful income all these years. Studies for instance have shown that even in the frontline agricultural state of Punjab, 98 per cent of the rural families are in debt, and 94 per cent of these have more expenditure than income. For the country, the total farm loan has been computed at Rs 12.60-lakh crore as per a statement presented in Parliament. Compare this with the Rs 10.3-lakh crore of bank defaults that the country is faced with. Already Rs 3.16-lakh crore of corporate NPAs have been written off between April 2014 and April 2018. However, the moment the demand for farm loan waivers is raised; policy makers, economists and business writers are quick to scream it will lead to an increase in fiscal deficit. Strangely, no question of widening fiscal deficit is ever asked when corporate NPAs are written-off. That’s how the economic design has been so cleverly laid out.

The basic problem is that neo-liberal economics does not consider agriculture to be an economic activity. That’s the primary reason why farmers are despised at, are considered to be a national burden. But what is not being understood is that agriculture, the largest employer in the country, only has the potential to reboot the economy. That’s what Mahatma had strongly advocated, and that’s what we ignored. #

Farm economics deteriorating. The Tribune. Oct 4, 2018

https://www.tribuneindia.com/news/comment/farm-economics-deteriorating/662673.html

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Why shouldn’t the owner of the companies who default on paying back the bank loans not treated the same way as the farmers?

In April this year, Karamjeet Singh, a farmer from village Nandgarh Kotra in Bathinda district in Punjab, was arrested after his cheque of Rs 4.34-lakh bounced, reports Indian Express. Still in jail, he is amongst hundreds of farmers who have been sent to jail for bounced cheques deposited for repayment.

Credit policy has two faces. One for the rich, and another for the poor. Let’s first take a look at the credit policy for farmers. The Punjab Agricultural Development Bank has served legal notice to 12,625 farmers threatening to sell their farm land to recover an outstanding due of Rs 229.80-crore, at a time when the Kolkata bench of the National Company Law Tribunal has allowed just one defaulting company – Adhunik Metaliks Ltd (AML) – to walk away with 92 per cent ‘haircut’. While the undated and signed bounced cheques is a common way to haul up defaulting farmers for non-payment of farm credit, I wonder why a similar strategy is not followed in case of corporate loans.     

Take another example. Two months back, Monnet Ispat & Energy got a ‘haircut’ of 78 per cent; the company had an outstanding debt of Rs 11,014-crore. Under the insolvency proceedings, the lenders will get only Rs 2,457-crore. The remaining amount of Rs 8,557-crore of bad debt will be written-off. The haircut, which in reality is nothing short of a waiver, comes at a time when a 34-year-old farmer, Sukhpal Singh of Mansa region in Punjab, committed suicide for an outstanding loan of Rs lakh drawn from a cooperative bank. In contrast, while the marginal farmer was unable to face the humiliation that comes with indebtedness and ended his life, we don’t see any change in the lifestyle of the owners of these defaulting companies. In fact, they feel recharged after being divested of the financial burden they were reeling under. It’s a new life offered to them on a platter.

This is how the banking system works. When it comes to industries, it looks at every opportunity to strike-off as much of the defaulting amount as possible. AML defaulted to the tune of Rs 5,370-crore, and under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) it has been allowed to walk away after a settlement was reached with the UK-based Liberty House Group for Rs 410-crore. In other words, the company gets a write-off or call it a ‘haircut’ for Rs 4,960-crore. I don’t think it is even fair to call it a ‘haircut’ as it is nothing short a complete head shave!

Compare this with the Rs 229.80-crore outstanding loan pending against 12, 625 Punjab farmers that the Punjab Agricultural Development Bank is trying to recover. It is not even a sizeable fraction of the huge amount written-off for just one industrial house. Call it a settlement to affect a resolution plan for the companies declared bankrupt; the economic jargon actually is an attempt to hide what in reality is more than a write-off. By selling off a loss making unit the promoter walks out free from what would otherwise be a life-long indebtedness. Almost the entire debt is eventually borne by the tax payers. This is what Noam Chomsky calls it as ‘tough love – tough for the poor and love for the rich’.      

The former Chief Economic Advisor Arvind Subramanian had in fact said that writing-off of corporate loans leads to economic growth. If this is true, I don’t understand why waiving farm loan does not lead to economic growth. After all, both the farmer as well as the industry takes loans from the same banks. How then can the write-off of corporate bad loans lead to economic growth whereas farm loan waivers lead to moral hazard? Why should farmers be therefore despised for seeking loan waiver? In fact, Arundhati Bhattacharya, the former chairperson of the State Bank of India had blamed farm loan waivers for leading to credit indiscipline. The Reserve Bank of India governor Urjit Patel had found farm loan waivers as a moral hazard upsetting the national balance sheet.

Although the Punjab Agricultural Development Bank has denied of any real intention of putting the land of 12,625 farmers for public auction saying that the legal notice is just a threat, the fact remains that as many as 71,432 farmers are under scanner for having defaulted the bank to the tune of Rs 1,363.87-crore.  Sooner or later, all these farmers will receive legal notices if they fail to pay up. In fact, many of them have already landed in jail. Similarly in Haryana, just to illustrate, a farmer who had failed to pay back a loan of Rs 6-lakh taken for laying a pipeline for irrigation was ordered by the district court to pay a fine of Rs 9.83-lakh and undergo a 2 year jail term.   

On the other hand, the ‘haircut’ allowed to AML means the banks will not be able to recover this huge amount. According to media reports, some of the other not so-high profile companies allowed ‘haircut’ includes: Jyoti Structures 85 per cent; Alok Industries 83 per cent; Amtek Auto 72 per cent; Electrosteel Steels 60 per cent and Bhushan Steels 37 per cent. Among other outstanding cases listed by the Insolvency and Banking Board of India, Synergies Dooray Automotive Ltd got a ‘haircut’ of 94. 27 per cent as a result of which financial companies are able to recover only Rs 54-crore from an outstanding amount of Rs 972.15-crore.

According to the latest data, over Rs 3-lakh crore worth of loans belonging to 70-80 companies has now been referred for ‘hair-cut. These are loans which have not been paid for 180 days. This includes Rs 1.74-lakh crore of 34 power companies. According to a High Power Committee set up by the Gujarat government, three power projects of Tata, Adani and Essar carrying a cumulative debt of Rs 22,000 crore will get a haircut of more than Rs 10,000-crore. What is interesting here is that in case of big defaulters, the entire government and banking machinery become hyper active to bail out the companies. But in case of agriculture, the same banking system seeks exemplary punishment, including jail term. I have never seen a jail term being prescribed for a corporate defaulter.

In an article entitled Reform that Isn’t in Indian Express former Cabinet Minister Kapil Sibal rightly sums it up saying: “Recovery through the IBC process in the steel sector will be about 35 per cent of the loans advanced and in the power sector, only 15 per cent of the loans advanced. This is a scandal in itself. Even the beneficiaries will raise loans from banks to pay for acquisitions.”

The question that needs to be asked is why aren’t the defaulting companies being allowed to go bust? Why is the entire effort to bail out the companies that have failed to perform? At the same time, why shouldn’t the owner of these companies who default on paying back the bank loans not treated the same way as the farmers? First, why should the RBI not disclose the names of defaulting companies to begin with? Secondly, why shouldn’t the corporate bigwigs be made to cool their heels in jail? #        

Haircuts are good, Farm loan defaults are bad -- the two-faced treatment of waivers. The Wire. Oct 1, 2018. https://thewire.in/political-economy/farm-loan-defaults-waivers-india

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