Swadeshi manch against free business agreement

Tribune News Service
Bathinda, October 16

Members of the Swadeshi Jagaran Manch submitted a memorandum of demands to the Deputy Commissioner, Bathinda, requesting the Union Government not to sign the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), a free trade agreement, with 15 countries.

Sanjay Sharma, promoter of the manch in four districts of the Malwa region, said, “Under the nationwide campaign, MoDs were submitted to the Prime Minister of India via deputy commissioners throughout the country.”

Sanjay Sharma added, “The Government of India is going to enter into a free trade agreement called RCEP with 15 countries with a provision to reduce import duty to zero on 80 to 95 per cent of goods. If this agreement is reached, it will have adverse and far-reaching effects on the nation’s manufacturing, agriculture and dairy due to which there will be an adverse effect on the production due to increase in duty-free imports in these areas. The possibilities of new capacities will also cease to exist. The Make-in-India initiative will come to a complete halt. Most of our industries have either shut down or are on the verge of closure due to the dumping of cheap Chinese goods for a long time. In such a scenario, the commitment of zero import duty on 80 per cent Chinese goods in RCEP is beyond comprehension. It would also give rise to unemployment in the country.

“It is a well-known fact that today the dairy sector is providing gainful employment opportunities to around 10 crore people in rural areas. Owing to the import of milk and milk products from New Zealand and Australia at zero import duty, there will be a huge fall in the procurement price of milk to our farmers, which will lead to a huge decline in employment in rural areas, especially women. The income of farmers will be halved. Our country will suffer huge losses in the form of foreign exchange outflow due to commitments being made regarding investment and intellectual property rights,” added Sharma.