Cong grills Govt. on QRs

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI, NOV. 28. The plight of farmers figured in both Houses of Parliament for the second consecutive day with the Congress being forced to walk out in Rajya Sabha after the Union Agriculture Minister, Mr. Nitish Kumar, marshalled arguments to best Congress leaders, Dr. Manmohan Singh and Mr. Pranab Mukherjee.

Refusing to yield to arguments by the two former Finance Ministers, Mr. Kumar countered them on two counts - that the present Government had not succumbed to U.S. pressure while dismantling quantitative restrictions (QRs) on imports and that the Government had not remained mute to the alleged ``scare'' spread by Food Corporation of India officers in Punjab forcing farmers to make distress sales.

Tempers frayed in the Rajya Sabha the moment Mr. Kumar rose to reply to a short-duration discussion which spanned five hours and saw wide participation. He said Dr. Singh was wrong in suggesting that the Government had struck an underhand deal with the U.S. while agreeing to dismantle QRs two years before the due date of 2003.

The U.S. won its case in the WTO dispute tribunal and India was given 15 months to comply after the U.S. argued that India could not continue with QRs because its balance of payments position was good for the last nine years.

Accusing the Congress of spreading rumours that the farming community was being affected due to the removal of QRs, the Minister quoted from Dr. Singh's speech of August 2 that ``we should not be exercised over QRs. In fact, QRs are not a result of the WTO.''

The former Finance Minister changed tack and suggested that the Vajpayee Government had failed in effectively presenting India's case in the WTO's dispute-settlement body.

Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Section  : Front Page
Previous : BCCI verdict on tainted players today
Next     : Laloo in judicial custody as bail lapses