BJP senior leader Dr. Murli Manohar Joshin has said that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, while announcing his road map for restoring the country's economic health in the coming year, had stressed that the UPA government would vigorously pursue the economic reforms which amounted to open several economic sectors to foreign capital and multinational financial agencies. It may be recalled that several financial experts and also political parties have questioned these measures which in the opinion of BJP need to be discussed through an informed debate in and outside the Parliament.
He said that the economy is already suffering from acute anaemia and it will not be prudent to allow it to bleed further. What is even more surprising that the UPA government is now engaged in the final phase of the negotiations for the highly controversial Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with the European Union (EU) without taking in to account the opposition by several development experts and many stakeholders.
Commenting on the issue, Joshi said that irrespective of ideological considerations, the conditions which, according to reports, the UPA government is willing to concede to EU will seriously jeopardize the interests of the Indian people with no obvious gains in trade or economic expansion.
Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) of the United Nations (UN). Another area that will impact India is opening up of procurement in central and state government institutions. This is the lifeline of many of Indian industries and medium and small enterprises, including small businesses run by women and other disadvantaged communities.
If this is opened to the EU, the SMEs will find it extremely hard to survive. Imagine a situation when our small vendors have to compete with EU for contracts in Railways or other public sector undertakings. India hasn't so far given this facility to any other FTA- partner, and acceding to the EU will lead to demands by others. Small town India vendors competing with a high-tech vendor in Japan or Germany for government contracts doesn't sound like level-playing field. It's not about exclusive, technologically demanding area, but routine contracts.
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