Waive farmers' loan, demands Bardhan

Nagpur, Aug 19 (UNI) CPI General secretary A B Bardhan today demanded that the centre waive all outstanding loans of farmers in the country.

At a 'meet the press' programme hosted by the Nagpur Union of Working Journalists (NUWJ) here, Mr Bardhan said the waiver of outstanding interest on loans, part of the Prime Minister's relief package announced recently, had not provided any real relief to farmers.

Mr Bardhan said only a complete waiver of loans would help check suicide by farmers. ''What is the problem in waiving off the loans? After all, the Government has written-off billions in loans due from industrialists, resulting in huge non-productive assets (NPAs) for banks. If the Government can do this for industrialists, why not for farmers ?'' he asked.

The Government did not go bankrupt when it waived industrialists' loans, and would not if it did so for farmers either, he quipped. In fact, the amount of farmers' loans was insignificant in comparison, he mentioned.

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