Don't go on hunger strike on farmers' issue: PM to Dharia

New Delhi, Oct 30 (UNI) Virtually ruling out a debt waiver scheme for farmers, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today appealed to Mr Mohan Dharia not to ''precipitate'' matters by going on a hunger strike from November 14 and instead nominate representatives to government committees set up to find ways to mitigate the sufferings of agriculturists trapped in debt.

''The Prime Minister emphasised that decisions on such important issues, particularly on debt waiver, have far reaching implications on the banking and financial system of the country.

''In the long run, the stability of the banking and financial system of a modern economy cannot be compromised and any solution would have to factor this in,'' Dr Singh told Mr Dharia, who called on the Prime Minister along with a delegation.

The others present at the meeting include Ministers Sharad Pawar (Agriculture), A R Antulay (Minority Affairs), P Chidambaram (Finance) and Prithviraj Chavan (MoS, PMO) and Member Planning Commission Dr Abhijit Sen.

Mr Dharia's delegation consisted of Mr Bapusaheb Deshpande, Dr Budhajirab Mulik, Mr Prakash Phoare, Dr Mukund Ghare and Mr Narayanrao Somvanshi.

According to a statement issued by PM's Media Advisor Sanjaya Baru, Mr Dharia re-iterated the demands which were of concern to him and had been raised by him earlier in a letter to the Prime Minister.

The demands include immediate writing off of debts of all farmers with a land-holding of less than two hectares and declaring debts taken from illegal money lenders as illegal and providing police protection to farmers.

The third demand is for bringing down the rate of interest on farm loans to 4 per cent. Mr Dharia and the delegation members gave a detailed account of the difficulties being faced by many sections of farmers and the need for acting on his demands immediately.

Mr Dharia also indicated his decision to go on an indefinite hunger strike from November 14 to press for acceptance of the demands.

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