BJP blames Rao Govt. for farmers' woes

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI, FEB. 23. Worried about the Opposition making political capital out of its admission that the farmers were facing distress, the Bharatiya Janata Party today blamed the WTO agreement signed by the Narasimha Rao Government for the feared ``adverse impact'' on the domestic market for agricultural products.

However, the Congress, which has planned a farmers' rally here for February 25, to be addressed by its president, Mrs. Sonia Gandhi, insisted that the problems were the result of the Government's faulty policies. Costs of agricultural inputs like diesel, fertiliser and electricity had risen, and prices of almost all agricultural produce - wheat, rice, cotton, rubber - had crashed. This had nothing to do with imports under the WTO.

The Congress' charge, made by the party spokesperson, Mr. Jaipal Reddy, was that the foodstock surplus was ``artificial'' and the crisis a result of ``masterly inaction'' by the Vajpayee Government. Even as Government godowns were overflowing with foodgrain, people in Orissa and Madhya Pradesh did not have access to adequate quantities of foodgrain.

Laxman's defence

Two days ahead of the rally, the BJP president, Mr. Bangaru Laxman, gave a number of reasons for the distress being faced by farmers, and underlying this exercise was the suggestion that the BJP Government was not to blame.

The problem today is one of surplus not shortage, Mr. Laxman said, admitting that this surplus production resulted in falling prices, overflowing godowns and ``inadequacy of the procurement at the minimum support price.'' Adding to the woes was the crash in world market prices for agricultural produce, thus virtually closing the option of export. ``In Thailand we are told that a bag of rice is being sold for $ 2,'' Mr. Laxman said.

The party tried to shift the blame on the Narasimha Rao Government which signed the WTO. The fast approaching time for lifting all restrictions on imports could have an ``adverse impact.''

But the statistics Mr. Laxman gave did not quite bear out what he was saying. Although restrictions on imports have gradually lifted, imports have come down from 7.05 per cent (Rs 12,058 crores) in 1998-99 to 5.63 per cent (Rs 11,510 crores).

The bound rate of duty for imported soyabean oil was only 45 per cent under the WTO agreement, Mr Laxman said, and that was the reason the Government was not able to stop increased imports of this product. But while admitting that the bound rate of duty for other edible oils, including the widely used palm oil and groundnut oil, was 300 per cent, he could not explain why the Government maintained a tariff of only 50 per cent duty on these edible oils if it wanted to discourage imports. The BJP also suggested that the Government use non- tariff barriers citing lower nutrition values and health hazards for some of the imported items.

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