Thursday was Congress member Rahul Gandhi's day in Parliament. After being at the centre of a row for much of zero hour in the Lok Sabha, he provided the headlines, seeking flexibility in the norms for farm loan waiver announced in the budget and raising expectations of a favourable decision from the government. Hailing the loan waiver package during a budget discussion, the scion of the Nehru-Gandhi family said the government could consider making the land ceiling for debt relief a "variable based upon land productivity.' Basing his submission on consultation with experts, Mr. Gandhi said the two-hectare ceiling for eligibility for total write-off did not account for land productivity and excluded deserving farmers in poorly irrigated areas. In particular, he made a reference to dry land areas such as Vidharbha, where the size of an average holding was 3.03 hectares but productivity was low for lack of irrigation. Another suggestion on the loan waiver pertained to the cut-off date. The cropping cycles were such in some parts of the country that the bulk of the loans was taken after the cut-off date of March 31, 2007. "A single cut-off date unfairly penalises farmers in these regions. It would greatly help if localised cut-off dates are considered so that every deserving farmer benefits from the waiver.' Maharashtra, according to experts, is a case in point. The loan cycle in the sugarcane belt is between January and March, whereas in the cotton belt of Vidarbha, it is from April to June. Similar variations exist across the country. Mr. Gandhi had some suggestions also on service delivery, accountability and transparency in institutions. Referring to a recent evaluation of the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, he said a host of government programmes could be implemented better if fund transfers were linked to achieving Right to Information and social audit objectives. Mr. Gandhi said Panchayati Raj Institutions ought to be placed at the centre of programme implementation to facilitate accountability.