To create awareness and to register traders’ opposition to WTO agreements, a rally will be taken out
Koyambedu wholesale market in the city closed on account of Traders Day on Tuesday gives neighbourhood children a chance to play uninterrupted cricket.
(Below) T. Vellaiyan, state president of Tamil Nadu Vanigar Sangangalin Peravai, speaks at the
Thanjavur: Members of the Tamil Nadu Vanigar Sangankalin Peravai (traders federation) will burn copies of the WTO agreements in front of foreign embassies in Chennai on August 15, federation state president T. Vellaiyan said here on Tuesday.“We are opposed to lowering of tariffs for imports, removing subsidies in agriculture and promoting the use of genetically modified (GM) crops in the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) which led to the formation of World Trade Organisation (WTO)”, he said.
“We (India) have been importing and exporting goods from the ancient period. We don’t need WTO to dictate terms to us” he said. On GM crops, he said 60 per cent of the GM seeds are from the US. If the seeds are used in India for four or five years, our natural seeds will be destroyed,” Vellaiyan told Deccan Chronicle. He was here to participate in the Traders’ Day conference organised by the federation.
Removal of subsidies for agriculture also will affect Indian farmers.” In all, WTO is out to destroy us.” Any government at the Centre — be it the BJP or Congress — welcomed these moves. Hence, traders opposed GATT, Mr.Vellaiyan explained.. The agreements are the root cause of all evils and problems in Indian trade. The country will not come out of them. “But the truth is rich countries have brought in the agreements only to loot India.”
To create awareness and to register traders’ opposition to WTO agreements, a rally will be taken out from Gandhi Mantap at Kanyakumari to Gandhi Mantap in Chennai in July. The conference resolved that the Centre should decide petrol, diesel and cooking gas prices. Determination of prices by oil companies should not be allowed. Another resolution said the administrative efficiency of the Traders Welfare Board (Vanigar Nala Vaariyam) should be improved. The peravai demanded the withdrawal of the Food Safety and Standards Act and the Land Acquisition Bill.
( Source : dc correspondent )
Next Story
