Karnataka elections: Farm distress, debt were emotive issues in 2018 election. What will it be now?

The BJP also hopes to capitalise on the new reservation matrix which has increased the quota for SC/ST category while at the same time appeasing dominant communities like Lingayats and Vokkaligas.

Poll promises are raining in Karnataka with assembly elections due on May 10. While core areas like education and healthcare are getting the short shrift as usual, agriculture loan waiver, one of the main planks of all political parties during every election, is surprisingly missing this time round, at least till now.
Timely and bountiful rains received across the state during the recent years have increased the agricultural output and largely reduced farm losses, bringing cheer to the farmers, making loan waiver irrelevant this election season. In the run-up to the 2018 assembly elections, farmers in the state were in dire straits having lost standing crops either due to continuous drought or floods.

Farm Debt: Non-Issue? 
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in its manifesto, had then promised that it would waive agricultural loans within 24 hours of assuming office. Post polls, BS Yediyurappa who was sworn in as Chief Minister though the BJP did not have a majority, convened a one-man cabinet meeting on his first day in office and passed an order waiving loans of up to Rs 1 lakh per farmer.
Yediyurappa had to resign within a few days as he could not muster a majority and a coalition government of JD (S)-Congress headed by HD Kumaraswamy came into being.  The  government repaid loans to the tune of Rs 15,597 crore directly to banks, benefitting nearly 27 lakh farmers.
Kumaraswamy hopes to capitalise on this during the ensuing elections by writing individual letters to all the beneficiaries. Earlier, the Siddaramaiah-led Congress government (2013-2018) had waived Rs 8,200 crore of crop loan, benefitting about 25 lakh farmers.

Agri-boost For BJP?
Steering clear of any waiver, Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai has in the 2023-24 budget announced an increase in the limit of interest-free short-term loan for farmers from Rs 3 lakh to Rs 5 lakh. This will ensure availability of hassle-free loans for making necessary preparations for farming activities.
Showing a strong resilience in the face of Covid-19, the agriculture sector in India grew by 3.9 percent in 2021-22, according to the Economic Survey tabled in the Parliament. The Survey attributed this to good monsoon and various schemes launched by the government.
The Directorate of Economics and Statistics in its advance estimates for 2022-23 has projected that the agriculture sector in Karnataka would grow by 5.5 percent as against 5.1 percent for the industrial sector. According to government data, while about 2,500 farmers died by suicide in the last five years, the number saw a drop of 71 percent post-Covid.

Congress Sops, A JD(S) Surprise
The promises made by the Congress so far are in the nature of sops. The party has promised 200 units of electricity to all households in the state; a monthly allowance of Rs 2,000 for homemakers which will benefit 1.5 crore women; unemployment allowance of Rs 3,000 for graduates and Rs 1,500 for diploma holders for two years; and 10 kg rice for Below Poverty Line (BPL) families through Anna Bhagya scheme. The party has also assured that it will release a separate manifesto for the youth.
JD(S), meanwhile, is the only party to promise free high quality education to the poorest of the poor. It has come out with four other assurances: free healthcare, initiatives for farmers, employment for a member of each family, and housing for all.

BJP: Polarisation And Reservation
While Karnataka’s budget document read like a BJP manifesto as it offered concessions to almost all sections including farmers, women and students, party state unit president Nalin Kumar Kateel pitched the campaign on a plane far removed from welfare. He announced that “this election is all about Tipu versus Savarkar.”

The BJP also hopes to capitalise on the new reservation matrix which has increased the quota for SC/ST category while at the same time appeasing dominant communities like Lingayats and Vokkaligas. The 4 percent quota for Muslims has been scrapped.

All parties seem to be making tall promises even before the release of their manifestos in order to gain the first mover advantage and thereby checkmate their rivals. But the question is whether they have worked out the arithmetic as some of these schemes have huge financial implications, which will leave a big dent on the state’s exchequer.