NEW DELHI: The claim of oversight after cutting interest rates on saving schemes will not fool anyone, CPM general secretary Sitaram Yechury said on Thursday. The CPM chief said the Central government had only “postponed the cuts” on the interest rate on small savings schemes in view of ongoing assembly elections in four states and one Union territory, adding that “taking the order back is not going to fool anyone”.
“Modi government clearly wants to further destroy peoples’ lives and slash small savings. Taking the order back is not going to fool anyone. Their intentions are clear. Cronies’ incomes are growing into trillions, but the majority are squeezed and destroyed,” Yechury said on Twitter.
On Wednesday, the government slashed interest rates on small savings schemes, such as post office deposits and public provident fund by 50-110 basis points. A day later, it withdrew the, with finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman calling the issuance of the order a case of oversight.
“The Government of India withdrew the lowered rate of interest on Small Savings Schemes announced earlier, and now the rate of interest on these will remain unchanged as the last quarter of 2020-2021,” she said.
Yechury, however, alleged that the decision was taken back keeping in mind electoral sensibilities, and it is only for this that the government decided to postpone the decision to slash interest rates on small savings schemes. He also claimed the minister’s statement suggested that the cut in interest rates will be implemented after the elections. “Once the elections will be over then you will see immediately that there will be an increase in fuel prices. The policy and trends of the government are clear,” Yechury said.
“The pace of inflation is increasing and income is decreasing. Those who spend their entire life savings in small savings for their future will be affected the most as interest rate on their savings will be reduced,” he added.