January 29, 1983 Apart from public disgust over corruption, the farmers' agitation also seems to have played a part in the recent election. The non-party Ryota Sangha led by Rudrappa, Sundaiesh and Nanjundaswamy campaigned vigorously against Congress (I) though it did not field any candidates of its own officially. The Gundu Rao ministry did extend several concessions to farmers, but it did not go the whole way to accept their demands. More than that, there was a concerted attempt to see that fanners' power was represented more forcefully in the Assembly. The farmers' lobby may now press more strongly for their demands. Apart from 'remunerative prices', which in effect mean substantially higher prices than those announced by the Centie, the demands include writing off all loan arrears of farmers irrespective of whether they are small or big and abolition of betterment levies and water rates. Acceptance of these demands will drain away resources available for development and result in a credit squeeze on agriculture and inflation. It will certainly not result in an increase in wages levels in agriculture and could instead alienate landless labour and marginal fanners from the government.
