Serving bureaucrats seldom make public comments on political decisions taken by the government they work for. But a senior IAS officer, Rajgopal Devara, has come out in the open, albeit in his personal capacity, to analyse a farm loan write-off that was declared in two phases - firstly a restricted one with lot of eligibility conditions in place, and then a more liberal format on Saturday by Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis.

Devara, who worked earlier as principal secretary of cooperation and marketing department, attributes the success of getting the government to yield, mainly to the unity of farmers and several other factors such as irresponsible statements that some senior leaders (BJP's state unit president Raosaheb Danve) made against distressed farmers and RBI governor's remark that agricultural loan waiver write-offs could lead to fiscal slippages and result in inflation spillovers.