Retain QRs to save the farmer: Jakhar

By Our Staff Reporter

TIRUPATI, MAY. 12.The former Lok Sabha Speaker, Mr. Balram Jakhar, has asked the Union Government to retain the Quantitative Restrictions (QRs), which were lifted with much fanfare on March 31 and to go for levying maximum import duties as possible to minimise the threat posed by multinational farm companies to the Indian farmer.

Participating at the `Farmers convention on WTO-Indian agriculture' organised by Rajanna Trust, floated in memory of the farmer leader Mr.P. Rajagopal Naidu, Mr. Jakhar said he was initially not a signatory to the WTO draft though he was in the Government then, as he felt that it could harm the interests of the local farm community, but later had to yield to pressure from various quarters.

He declared that he was not happy with some of the clauses in the WTO agreement, as they were `discriminatory' and also against the farmers' interests. The playing field was not level enough to allow free trade among countries, he said. Mr. Jakhar faulted the Government for showing over- enthusiasm in rushing to remove the QRs and openly announcing that import duties would be pegged low just for getting a pat on the back from bigger nations.

The Lok Satta convenor, Dr. N. Jayaprakash Narayan, who presided over the deliberations, was rather blunt in his comments on politicians and bureaucrats throughout his presentation.

He posed a direct question to the `intellectuals': ``If WTO is the real cause for the pathos in the Indian farm sector, then how is it that the sector was not any better all these years since independence? We conveniently sweep our failures under the carpet and point our finger at an alien enemy, who, in fact, is doing lesser harm to us than ourselves.'' He wanted production to rise so that the farmers could stand up to the competition.

Mr. Narayan lambasted the politicians, irrespective of party affiliations, for `deliberately' framing wrong policies, which rendered a deathblow to the farm sector. He cited various instances where food products were imported when the local price was already low and exported when it was high.

The CPI(M) secretary, Mr.B. V. Raghavulu, the CPI secretary, Mr. S. Sudhakara Reddy, the Congress leader, Mr. G. Muddu Krishnama Naidu and the Information for Information and Public Relations, Dr. N. Sivaprasad also spoke.

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