Sonia writes to PM on salt issue

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI, JUNE 29. The Congress President, Ms. Sonia Gandhi, has demanded that the Vajpayee Government should give up its idea of reviewing the current policy of compulsory statutory iodisation of edible salt. The Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, through a notification dated May 11 had indicated the government's intention to withdraw compulsory iodisation and had invited views and suggestions from the public before taking a final view.

In a letter to the Prime Minister, Ms. Sonia has drawn Mr. Vajpayee's attention to the fact that as long back as 1984 the then Congress government had decided ``to compulsorily iodinate all edible salt in India by the year 1990''. The Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha further points out that as a result of that decision: (a) vast majority of households in the country has been consuming iodised salt; (b) production of iodised salt in the country has increased from two lakh tonnes in 1983 to 40 lakhs in 1998; and, (c) almost all the States have prohibited the sale of non-iodised salt for edible purposes and most of them provide iodised salt through ration shops.

Ms. Sonia expresses herself unable to appreciate the reason given the May 11 notification that ``such a public health measure should not be enforced through statutory provisions. Instead, it should be propagated through wide publicity and information dissemination''. What the Congress leader has not mentioned but is generally conceded by official sources is that the Vajpayee Government has agreed to review the compulsory iodized salt in deference to pressure from the Sangh parivar. The government has given in to the Sangh parivar in the hope that the RSS and other outfits would allow the government to take radical decisions like disinvestment, etc.

Ms. Sonia has reminded the Prime Minister that ``elimination of iodine deficiency has been advocated by the WHO Assembly in 1990, the World Summit for Children in 1990, the International Convention on the Rights of the Child in 1992, and by SAARC in the same year. India is a signatory to all these resolutions''.

Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Section  : National
Previous : Poor response to Jammu bandh
Next     : Focus again on Gupta leadership