WB minister slams ad campaign

"If sweet coloured water - Coke can be sold in the Indian market so can the Prime Minister of the country," said the state information technology and environment minister, Manabendra Mukherjee while addressing the 20th Triennial Conference of the All India Allahabad Bank Officers' Association in town today.

The minister criticised the banks on their failure to lend of the agricultural sector as stipulated by the Reserve Bank of India at 18 per cent.

According to him only 13 per cent of credit off take was directed towards the sector. He complained the government was shying away from its responsibility of looking at the welfare of its citizens.

"It has introduced voluntary retirement schemes at banks and at the same time initiated reduction of interest rate on savings in the country "" thus increasing the woes of the common masses," he added.

He said he was not against globalisation but he believed in globalisation through reduction of rich-poor disparity.

Commenting on the feel good factor and the center's policy which according to him was pro-capitalism he said that the present policies did little to serve the 85 per cent of the Indian population that lived under poverty.

The minister said the present pro-capitalist approach of the government has increased the rich-poor disparity to a great extent in the post liberalisation era. "This was set to increase if the government keeps on pursuing the present policies," he added.