Saturday, October 22 2005 19:53 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: Sounding alarm bells of an agrarian crisis in the country, Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) today (Oct 22, 2005) advised United Progressive Alliance (UPA) Government not to commit the same mistake as National Democratic Alliance (NDA) regime of ignoring the farm sector.

"We are going through an agrarian crisis and this could be tackled only through enhanced public investment in the sector," Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) General Secretary Prakash Karat said emphasising the correctives needed in the economic policies.

The UPA Government recognised that the country is facing such a crisis because of lack of funds in the agriculture sector, Karat said in an interactive session with the Forum of Financial Writers.

The Left, which has decided to end its boycott of the Left-UPA coordination committee meeting after assurance that 10 per cent disinvestment in BHEL would not be carried out, will ask the Manmohan Singh Government to increase rural credit flow to farmers, he said.

"We would also like the Government to give funds for generating employment," he said, adding, "The left had pointed out to certain shortcomings in the Employment Guarantee Bill, which was subsequently passed by Parliament in last session after addressing concerns of the Left."

Karat said when the Left talks of public expenditure in agriculture sector and for generating employment, it is aimed at reminding the Government of lessons from the previous NDA Government, which kept on talking about growth without understanding the ground realities.

"Do you also include rural infrastructure when you talk of improving infrastructure or it includes just airports and all that," he asked.