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The following article discusses the Communist Party of India (Maoist)'s announcement that all exploitative and predatory will be abolished in the areas they have liberated. The article comes from the bourgeois press and is written from a distorted and pro-imperialist perspective, but we are posting it for informational purposes. Special thanks to Jed Brandt for this.
Farmers in West Midnapore district of West Bengal may not have to repay their crop loans. The Maoists have announced a waiver. This is the first time the rebel group has announced such a decision.
“Several peasants who took crop loans over the last two years have suffered losses. So, we have decided that they don’t have to pay back their loans,” said Koteshwar Rao, alias Kishenji, member of the banned Communist Party of India (Maoist).
“Moreover, no agricultural cooperative, bank or private money lender will be allowed to charge more than two per cent interest on loans they advance to peasants this year,” he added.
Cooperative and public sector banks usually charge 7 per cent interest on agri loans. Private moneylenders charge much more – between 3 per cent and 5 per cent a month.
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