Bardhan said on Saturday that the loan waiver scheme announced by Finance Minister P. The CPI leader also questioned the government’s claim about the number of farmers who would benefit and pointed out that the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) was on record that more than half the farmers in the country were dependent on money-lenders for their credit needs. If the government was sincere about the farm debt crisis, it should have announced the formation of a Debt Relief Commission and pegged the interest rate on farm loans at 4 per cent as demanded by the Left parties when the budget was in the making, he said. Bardhan said the CPI and other Left parties would oppose the proposal in the Economic Survey to increase working hours from eight to ten. On its part, the Left was committed to keeping the BJP out of power and wanted all the Left and secular parties to come together on a common platform on the basis of a clear pro-people programme. Read More