India, March 9 -- In Maharashtra's political vocabulary, few phrases have travelled as widely as "farm loan waiver". From Vidarbha to western Maharashtra, from election campaigns to budget speeches, the promise of wiping out farm debt has become a recurring feature of the state's agrarian politics. Yet, nearly two decades after loan waivers became a central policy tool, the question remains: do they actually ease farm distress in a lasting way?

Maharashtra's agrarian economy sits at the intersection of climate uncertainty, volatile markets and fragmented landholdings. Regions such as Vidarbha and Marathwada have long reported the highest levels of agrarian distress. The tragic indicator of that distress has been farmer suicides. Between ...