Negative list lacks Asean nod, Kerala CM writes to Centre

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Thiruvananthapuram: The quibble over ‘negative list’ in Asean pact between Congress and the Left parties have taken a semantic twist, with Kerala chief minister VS Achuthanandan pointing out that the `negative list’ is only a proposed negative list. This is also the first time that Kerala government is admitting that the Centre had, as promised, shared the list with the state government.

“But how can a list be dubbed the “negative list” of Asean pact, so long as the seven member countries are pending decision about the ‘negative list’ proposed by India? This has been communicated to Union commerce minister Anand Sharma, who claimed to have shared the negative list with the state,” VS Achuthanandan said, during the briefing after a meeting of the state Cabinet.

CPI(M) leader argued that it is by clamping tariffs on imports affecting the farmers that the Centre should protect agriculture in the country. VS Achuthanandan government also took strong exceptions to the Union Cabinet’s decision to sell 10% equity of profit-making PSUs. By cutting down the subsidy on fertilisers, the UPA government has made crushing blow on farmers already rendered weak by the import inflow of farm products through Asean treaty, the chief minister said.

At the same time, Achuthanandan admitted that the list of 480 items that Anand Sharma had shared, included coffee, tea and pepper that Kerala’s plantation economy was most worried about. “However, what we fear is whether the `negative list’ will be effective when the agreement cames to force on January 1, 2010. So far as we know, none of the other member countries has agreed to this list mooted by UPA Government,” he said.