Sharad pawar speaks  

It refers to shocking and surprising 'advice' coming from Sharad Pawar seated on the responsible post of Union Agriculture Minister for farmers to deny repayment of loans taken from private money-lenders which in fact is against law of the land. Undoubtedly farmers committing suicides for being trapped in loans do deserve sympathy and some concrete steps are definitely required to tackle the situation. Already gimmick of loan-waiver by banks and financial institutions as announced in Union Budget is under question-mark with Union finance Minister yet to come with proposals to meet the heavy amount required for the purpose. Writ filed in Supreme Court in the context also speaks of confused information from public-sector banks in their balance-sheets.

If Sharad Pawar is really sincere towards farmers' cause, he should best utilize huge funds continuously pouring to his controlled Board of Cricket Control in India (BCCI) and its subsidiary Indian Premier League (IPL) for helping farmers rather than spending these like freebies to our super-rich cricketers whose income and wealth is regularly multiplying in crores through match-money, advertisements and income from already accumulated resources.

Subhash C Agrawal, Via e-mail