The Rs. 60,000 crore farm loan waiver was the topic for the panel discussion organised by Gene Campaign and IIC. The two economists on the panel were largely in agreement on the prognosis of the current crisis facing Indian agriculture. But they differed with regard to the impact of the waiver.

Bibek Debroy argued that this was a calculated move in and election year, and all that it would achieve would be the recapitalising of cooperative banks notorious for their mismanagement.

Professor Abhijit Sen was more sanguine about the impact of the loan waiver, and objected to Debroy's cynicism. He categorically stated that by June 2008, all credit flows to farmers would resume.

Dinesh Trivedi, speaking from a political standpoint, believed that the loan waiver was only meant to benefit the UPA, and any benefit to farmers would be purely incidental.

In summing up, Dr. Suman Sahai, President of Gene Campaign, said that she supported the waiver because the farmers were suffering for mistakes which were not of their own making-unlike the UTI whcih was bailed out for its won policy blunders.

The panel recommended that a monitoring mechanism must be put in place to oversee the implementation of the  scheme. For this, the banks must ensure transparency by printing details of loan write-offs in the local press, or involve panchayats in the process.