August 10, 2004

 Press Statement

The Polit Bureau of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) has issued the following statement:

The decision of the Central government to effect a further reduction in the rate of interest on Provident Fund, from 9.5 to 8.5 per cent is unacceptable. With the inflation rate going up there is no justification whatsoever for a reduction in the interest rates for EPF. Such a reduction will only harm the interests of the workers and erode their savings further.

It is also regrettable that departing from the earlier tradition of the CBT to take decisions only by way of consensus, this time a decision has been taken on the basis of a majority bypassing the protests of the representatives of the central trade unions.

It is unfortunate that the UPA government continues with the patently anti-worker policies of the previous NDA regime.

The Polit Bureau of the CPI(M) urges upon the Central Government to reconsider this decision and see that there is no reduction in the PF interest rate.