Left frowns at Chidambaram's remarks on FDI
NEW DELHI, Aug 6 (UNI): Within two days of the UPA-Left Coordination Panel holding its first formal meet, the Left parties today took Finance Minister P Chidambaram to task for his oft-repeated justification of hike in FDI cap in insurance, telecome and civil aviation as per the agreed CMP.
"We are sorry to say that Mr Chidambaram has quoted the CMP out of context which is unfair and unjustified," the leaders of the CPI(M), CPI and the Forward Bloc said.
The CMP only outlines general encouragement of FDI and there is no specific mention of raise in FDI cap in these sensitive sectors, they said.
Chidambaram had said, "The National Common Minimum Programme says that India can absorb two to three times the current levels of FDI.
The Left parties have some reservations, but I am confident I can talk to them and convince them." The Left leaders sought details about the UPA government's stand at the WTO meet and the "actual outcome" there.
On the relationship between the UPA and the Left, they stressed that the Dr Manmohan Singh government must honour people's verdict and must disseminate proper information, consult them before taking any decisions on major issues and apprise them of their implementation.
In separate interviews to UNI, they also said the government had not thought it fit to share these details with the Left parties and the experts.
CPI General Secretary A B Bardhan, CPI(M) Politburo member M K Pandhe and Forward Bloc leader Debarat Biswas said if the lack of trust remained, "dissensions" could develop within the coalition.
In an obvious reference to Chidambaram's remarks on raising the FDI cap, Bardhan said, "So when it is said that the CMP proposes two to three time raise in the total FDI in the country, it amounts to diverting attention from the general to the particular." "To allow a high FDI cap in Insurance will lead to interference in the country's earning on insurance funds and their investment in the social sector." The Left also proposed to submit well-argued and well-substantiated notes to the government in this regard.
Pandhe maintained that Mr Chidambaram was quoting the CMP "out of context" and warned that if the Congress-led government did not follow proper policies, "there would be dissensions, which will naturally affect the longevity of the government." Making a strong case for "proper interpretation" of the CMP, Biswas said while the FDI was welcome in sectors like infrastructure, services and technology, it was not at all acceptable in sensitive sectors like insurance, telecome and civil aviation.
On the government's performance in the WTO meet, the Left leaders lamented that the government had not held any consultations with the UPA allies nor sought evolving a national consensus on the issue.
On his return from the WTO meet in Geneva, Commerce and Industry Minister Kamal Nath asserted that India had got more than enough from the WTO Framework Agreement to shield its farmers, besides keeping plenty of space for further multilateral negotiations.
Holding that the outcome at the WTO meet was a "mixed bag," Bardhan said some concessions had been obtained in the matter of making the developed countries to cut at least 20 per cent of the huge subsidy for agriculture and agricultural products.
"But what about the remaning 80 per cent.
That too is considerably high and gives only a limited access to the produce of developing countries?" the CPI leader asked.
Bardhan also made a strong case for obtaining an "over-riding power" for agricultural and dairy products so as to ensure the livelihood of the country's farming community who are already very hard hit.
So far as services were concerned, the agreement gave the developed countries a "far more dominating access," the CPI leader said, adding "Indeed we should not have opened the services sector in the negotiations." "There should be a full briefing of what has happened at the WTO talks and how far the G-20 countries have been collectively able to press ahead unitedly with their concerns.
Till then the Left and others will continue to have certain reservations about it." While Pandhe said certain "compromises" had been made by the government and sought details of the agreement, Biswas regretted that a larger excercise had not been conducted.
"The government should not hold casual deliberations on such a crucial issue," Biswas said.
The Left leaders wanted to know the real picture on "the developed countries strengthening the Blue Box to their advantage and on how the Indian market and farmers were secured with the tariff protection." The Left leaders also emphasised that the stability and performance of the government was interconnected.
While they desired that the UPA government should last its full five-year term, they wanted its performance to be in the letter and spirt of the CMP.
Work resumes on Tehri Project DEHRADUN, Aug 6 (UNI): Normalcy is returning to the Tehri Project in Uttaranchal with workers returning to duty from today.
The work at the 2400 Mega Watts (MW) hydel power project came to a grinding halt after an accident in Tunnel Number three adjoining the Tehri Dam Hydro Electric project, which caused death of 29 workers and injuries to several others on Tuesday.
Before resuming their duties the workers stood in silence to pay homage to their colleagues who lost their lives in the tunnel collapse.
Excluding the Tunnel Number three, the site of the accident, work began on every other site today after the debris was cleared yesterday, official sources said.
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