CPI releases manifesto, announces assured pension of Rs 9k per month

The CPI Friday announced that it would give a minimum pension of Rs 9,000 per month, grant full statehood to Delhi and Puducherry and a one-time comprehensive loan waiver for farmers as part of its manifesto for the Lok Sabha polls.

The Communist Party of India (CPI) also proposed a law for agricultural workers and a separate budget for agriculture.

The party said it would increase the number of guaranteed employment days under the MNREGA scheme to 200 days per family and ensure wage payment within the period of guaranteed statute and at par with legal minimum wages for unskilled farm labour.

CPI leader D Raja, who released the manifesto, came down hard on the RSS-BJP and said that they, along with its other allied right-wing extremist organisations, had become "aggressive in pushing their ideology and agenda" which are "divisive, secretarian, communal and fascist."