State Bank of India’s decision to bar candidates who have defaulted on their education loans from writing the bank’s recruitment exams has become a talking point for the DMK’s M.K. Stalin and PMK founder S. Ramadoss.
Speaking at an election rally in Tiruchi, Mr. Stalin, whose party has announced that it would waive the education loans of students in Tamil Nadu, criticised the bank’s decision and sought to drive home the importance of waiving educational loans.
“It is shocking that the bank would have such a rule. How would it help to bar the candidate from appearing in the recruitment exam when he or she is already struggling to repay the loans?” he asked. He added, “This is why DMK chief M. Karunanidhi has taken a long-term view on this issue and has announced a complete waiver of educational loans.”
PMK founder S. Ramadoss also strongly criticised the bank’s move by noting that the State was already seeing high levels of unemployment among the student community. “It would be detrimental to those graduates who are finding it hard to get employment. This will not be good for unemployed graduates,” he said in a statement here on Tuesday.
He also came down hard on banks that have refused to divulge the details of large business houses that have obtained huge loans from public sector banks and are defaulting on payments. “It is not right for the banks to be so considerate towards the big businesses while being so harsh on the student community,” he said.
He further pointed out that only 10 per cent of those who have taken educational loans are defaulting on the payments. “It is clear from the statistics that unemployment is forcing the graduates to default on the repayment. Therefore, the right thing to do would be to increase employment opportunities,” he said.
