BJP says farmers will be hit, Left feels left out

POLITICAL REACTIONS

The Bharatiya Janata Party said the new policy was anti-farmer, and would also hurt the indigenous manufacturing sector. Meanwhile, the Left parties said they were not consulted while formulating the policy.

Former Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha said: "The new trade policy is anti-farmer, and will also hurt our indigenous manufacturing sector. The new clause that import restrictions on seeds, tubes and planting equipment will be removed will hurt our farmers as the largest application of biotechnology in agriculture is in India. Such a liberal import policy can only hurt our existing providers.

"Hotels and restaurants have been allowed to use their duty credit entitlements to procure food items and alcoholic beverages. The clause on allowing food items is new, and it will hurt the interests of our farmers who will have to compete with global prices without any protection."

Former Commerce Minister Arun Jaitley said: "The nature of the new trade policy has changed over the years, earlier it was about how much the quantitative restrictions will be lifted, now its about incentivising goods and services markets. The trade policy as such merely adds a little t what the NDA government has already done in the part."

The differences within the Left came to the fore once gain in their reactions to the new Foreign Trade Policy of the Government. The Communist Party of India sounded the skeptical note, coming down on the Government for not consulting them before framing the policy. The Communist Party of India (Marxist) on the other hand "welcomed policy for the extent to which it reflected the concerns of the Common Minimum Programme in meeting employment generation targets."