On June 11, after more than 10 days of protests by farmers, the Maharashtra government announced it would waive all farm loans. Farmers demanding loan waivers have been agitating in neighbouring Madhya Pradesh as well, where the protests turned violent resulting in the death of five farmers in a police shooting.

In light of these developments, Newslaundry spoke to economist and former professor at the Centre for Economic Studies and Planning, Jawaharlal Nehru University, Arun Kumar on the reasons behind demands of farm loan waivers, the impact of demonetisation on the agrarian economy and the “asymmetry” in response to farm loans and corporate loans.