Date:03/10/2007 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2007/10/03/stories/2007100362161600.htm

National

V.P. Singh criticises deal

Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI: The former Prime Minister, V.P. Singh, and Communist Party of India secretary D. Raja participated in a sit-in organised by the Jan Morcha near the Raj Ghat to protest against the Union Government’s policies and the nuclear deal with the United States.

Mr. Singh criticised the nuclear deal, saying that the government was buckling under U.S. pressure. The Hyde Act would be binding on the country after the deal was operationalised. While the government was earlier supporting the Iran pipeline project, now there was no talk on the issue.

Mr. Singh also hit out at the government for importing wheat at higher prices than what was being paid to domestic farmers. He asked farmers to gherao godowns stocking imported commodities if the government did not agree to pay the desired minimum price for wheat procured from them.

Mr. Raja pointed out that nuclear energy contributed merely 2.8 per cent of the total energy generated in the country. Energy generation could be increased through thermal and hydel projects also but no one was talking about these alternatives.

“Mahatma Gandhi had talked about self-reliance. Today, we should think about being self-reliant in energy generation also,” he said.