Staunchly opposing the cut in interest rates for small savings schemes, DMK president M Karunanidhi today said the decision would negatively impact both the people and the country.
"By slashing the interest rates on these small saving schemes, the interest among the poor and middle-class people to invest in such schemes will decline," he said listing schemes like the Public Provident Fund (PPF), National Savings Certificate and Kisan Vikas Patras.
"The loss is not only for the people, but also for our nation, which is a developing economy," he said in a statement.
Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley earlier today had defended the rate cuts, stating that the schemes were "formula based" and that "the government uses its resources to give subsidy on these schemes, above the rates determined by the market."
The Centre has cut the interest rate on PPF to 8.1 per cent for the period April 1 to June 30, from 8.7 per cent. Similar cuts have been made for other schemes as well.
The DMK chief also urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to take appropriate steps to repatriate ten Tamil Nadu fishermen from Kuwait. They had gone to the country last year for contract fishing.
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa had demanded their repatriation yesterday.
Karunanidhi urged Modi "to not try to change the name of Neyveli Lignite Corporation (a Navaratna company) into NLC India Limited."
"People of Tamil Nadu and the employees will not accept changing the Tamil name. On behalf of DMK, I urge the Prime Minister to not engage in this unnecessary initiative," he said.
However, it is not known if the Centre has officially decided to go in for a name change for the Tamil Nadu based Union government enterprise.
