Opinion View from the RIGHT

It adds: “Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) has condoled his death. In a condolence message released from Haridwar,RSS Akhil Bharatiya Prachar Pramukh Dr. Manmohan Vaidya said: ‘It was at the Akhil Bharatiya office-bearers’ meeting going on in Haridwar on September 3 that we received the news of the tragic death of Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy in a helicopter crash. All office-bearers including Sarsanghachalak Shri Mohan Bhagwat and Sarkaryavah Shri Bhaiyaji Joshi were shocked to hear the sad news. We all share this unbearable pain with his family members,people of Andhra Pradesh and workers of the Congress Party’. All the BJP-ruled state governments declared a two-day state mourning as a mark of respect to the departed soul. At the BJP headquarters in New Delhi too,the party flag was flown at half-mast”.

Trade concessions

In a page-long essay titled “Will India toe US,EU line at WTO?” P. Muralidhar Rao writes: “Agriculture being the means of subsistence for more than 60 crores of people in India,any further liberalisation of agri-imports would render [the vast majority of [the population vulnerable. A study of 102 countries conducted by the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) has found that even limited opening up of import surges for many agriculture commodities have threatened the farm sector. Because the US and EU have been raising farm subsidies in the name of non-trade distorting green box subsidies,which overweigh four times the trade distorting subsidies. Lowering of duties with ultimately zero tariffs on certain products,would lead agriculture to complete disarray”.

He adds: “The unilateral play of fork and brute strength in the multilateral trade talks ever since the creation of WTO in 1995 was reversed by Murasoli Maran,the then commerce minister,in the Doha ministerial conference held in 2001. At Doha,India had singularly resisted the pressure of the Euro-US combine and successfully obstructed the Singapore issues and also brought to focus the issue of unfair agri-subsidies by developed countries and issues related to public health. This ultimately led to the third world solidarity where almost 110 developing countries have now come together to resist the Euro-US pressure. Arun Jaitley,minister of commerce in the NDA government,who led the Indian delegation at Cancun in 2003,had further strengthened the cause of the third world by effectively putting in place groups like G20,G16,etc. But the gains made at Doha and Cancun are being reversed now by the recent undue haste being shown by the present UPA regime represented by Commerce Minister Anand Sharma. The strategy,which was evolved on the basis of national interest and also a progressive approach to work for a genuinely equitable multilateral trade regime,is now at stake. It seems,the present UPA government,instead of further consolidating on the gains made in Doha by the previous NDA regime,has actually started toeing the line scripted by US and EU again”.