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The EU-India FTA
Need for public debate
by Jayshree Sengupta
WITH the good news from the 17th SAARC (South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation) meeting in the Maldives about the future effective implementation of the South Asian Free Trade Area agreement, trade relations among member-countries will get a big boost. India’s export growth has slowed down from 36.5 per cent in September 2011 to only 12.4 per cent in October. A few weeks ago the Minister of Commerce said the European Union-India Free Trade agreement was also at an advanced stage of negotiations. EU-India trade is of greater importance for India than the trade with SAARC countries as the EU is one of the biggest trade partners and investors in this country.Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had expressed the hope at a summit in Brussels in December 2010 that the FTA would come through by 2011-end. But it hasn’t. What ails the FTA? The EU-India FTA negotiations were launched in July 2007. Till 2009, the EU, a bloc of 27 countries, was India’s largest trading partner while India was the EU’s eighth largest trading partner. In 2010, however, the UAE and China became India’s biggest trading partners. The total trade (exports and imports) with the EU increased by 28 per cent to 67.78 billion euros in 2010. In the area of FDI, flows from the EU, however, declined from 3.4 billion euros in 2009 to 3 billion euros in 2010. Specific areas covered by the FTA include trade in services, goods, investments, trade facilitations, public procurement, technical regulations, intellectual property rights (IPR) and geographical indication, competition policy and dispute settlement. Market access for goods and services forms the core of any FTA in which tariffs are removed among members but are maintained against the outside world. India advocated an asymmetrical deal in which the EU would eliminate 95 per cent of tariffs, leaving India at the 90 per cent level — a fair request reflecting the differences in the levels of development between the two parties. The EU brought out an “exclusion” list that included 226 products, mostly chemicals, petrochemicals, plastics, ceramics and glassware. India proposed an exclusion list of about 150 agricultural goods and 250 manufactured products. The agricultural goods included processed good, dairy products, sugar, fruits and vegetables, meat products, maize, honey, mushrooms, egg products, coriander seeds, vanaspati and cocoa powder. The manufactured goods included some textiles and clothing, textile machinery, rubber, cars, commercial vehicles and two-wheelers, paper and paper board, furniture, chemicals, machinery and appliances, fish and fish products, wines and spirits. Many Indians have been worried that the EU is pressing too hard on IPR issues which will curtail the production of cheap generic drugs, specially AIDS drugs which India exports to Africa. The EU’s demand for stronger IPR protection through “data exclusivity” requirement would force drug companies seeking approval from the national health authorities to produce a generic copy of a medicine, not to use the drug manufacturer’s previously existing data on its safety and effectiveness. It would thus require generic drug companies to conduct expensive clinical trials before producing generic medicines, a limitation that could significantly curb the number of generic products. The EU’s insistence has been based on the fact that it takes companies a long time to develop new drugs. Enhancing generic production can undermine the incentive of original researchers, increasing the supply of cheap medicines in the short run but curtailing innovative research in the long run. In India, the availability of cheap medicine is important for the poor as most of the rural indebtedness is due to borrowing on account of illness in the family. It would further limit the ability of the government to issue compulsory licensing of medicines. Fortunately in July 2011, it was announced that data exclusivity will not be part of the prospective EU-India free trade agreement. Another point of contention is the temporary movement of Indian skilled labour to the EU under the FTA as it has raised fears of competition in the EU labour market from Indian IT and other service personnel. The EU is also seeking the liberalisation of legal, accounting, banking, insurance and retail services. In banking services, there are fears in India that foreign banks may not like to go to rural India and serve the poor. Similarly, opening up of retail trade will jeopardise the livelihood of 12 million small retailers. India should also be concerned with the proposed inclusion of “legally binding clauses on human rights, social and environmental standards and their enforcement with measures in the event of infringement.” India had objected to these clauses in the past at the WTO. Now with the FTA, these will become binding automatically. Also in food security, there are fears that freeing agricultural imports will lead to a surge of heavily subsidised EU produce into the Indian markets and will adversely impact the livelihood of marginal farmers. In addition, the European automotive industry has declared that it supports an EU-FTA provided it meets various criteria, including no diversion from the “zero for zero” tariff agreement. According to them, India has remained inflexible on the abolition of its automobile tariffs. It applies peak import tariffs of 60 per cent on cars but 10 per cent on trucks and buses, and 7.5 per cent to 10 per cent on parts and components. EU members want that the FTA should ensure that all non-tariff barriers are also eventually eliminated in full. India is afraid that if it lowers duties on cars and automotive parts, Japan and South Korea would press for similar concessions. Problems are being faced in the area of tariffs on wines. India is reluctant to lower the duties on wines and spirits as they are regarded as “sin goods”. India is also concerned about the Singapore issues being included which focus on government procurement, investment and competition policy. These three issues were insisted upon by the EU for inclusion within the WTO. But developing countries, including India, had objected to this and these issues were finally removed. Now they have again been introduced in the FTA. Insistence on a competition policy may lead to creating a favourable climate for EU-based multinational corporations. The EU may want to attempt to harmonise India’s competition law with EU competition law which may not be in sync with India’s own development needs. The dispute settlement clause is controversial as it would enable private foreign companies to sue the government. Also, the investment provisions in the FTA would allow foreign firms to acquire land, minerals, water and other resources freely which may create problems. Lastly, there is need for greater transparency in the negotiations and there has to be more sharing of information with civil society groups and the general public. There has to be more public debate on the pros and cons of the proposed
FTA.
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MIDDLE |
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India’s latest district
by K.K. Paul
One
always gets drawn to the news stories about persons and places personally known and tends to read them with greater interest. Only last month I came across such an item, Longding in Arunachal had been declared a district. Immediately my mind raced back by about 15 years to the time when I had first visited the place. Though the visit was a short one, it left an impact.Strategically located in Patkai Hills, and by and large unknown, Longding is almost abutting Myanmar on the one side and shares its southern boundary with Mon district of Nagaland. The entire area is sparsely populated with the villages being usually located on top of the hills or generally occupying a higher ground. I was visiting Khonsa, the headquarters of Tirap, and had also wanted to spend a night at Longding, a subdivision at that time, but was strongly advised against due to poor infrastructure. The reason was not far to see. As I left Khonsa in a jeep, it was soon realised that there was no concept of a metalled or a macadamised road in this area. It was the end of February and despite the dry season, the road, if we could call it one, had deep grooves in the mud, and the jeep tyres, in spite of continuous bumps, were forced to remain confined to the beaten tracks. The onward journey was office work, as the SP of Tirap, who was driving the jeep, was briefing me and discussing various aspects of security and the possible movement of extremists from Myanmar to the tea gardens of Assam through this area of Arunachal. At Longding the traditional welcome of Wanchos, meeting the Gaon Burras and others, official work and lunch, all took about three hours. The Wanchos of Longding are well built and athletic, extremely friendly and akin to Noctes and Konyaks of Nagaland. Body-tattooing appeared to be the fashion in vogue. I was informed that it was customary among men. Houses were mostly of wood bamboo, except for the government offices/houses which were the usual Assam type. Such construction did not fit in anywhere in the scenic locale but it was there, like sore thumbs, occupying all the prime locations. It was the return journey in the afternoon which proved to be more memorable. The place being virtually untouched by commercialisation, the countryside was as natural as the nature would have loved it to be and one could fully enjoy the idyllic surroundings undisturbed. At least this was so 15 years ago. Being in the extreme East, at that time of the year, the sun usually set by four. There was a particular stretch of a road through a valley where the shadow of the high mountains, covered the entire area, giving the impression of a twilight in the afternoon. We had stopped for a while at a small bridge on a dry rivulet at the tri-junction of tracks from Khonsa, Wakka and Longding to get a panoramic view of the valley. The air was cool and fresh, absolutely unpolluted and having come from pre-CNG Delhi, it was a real pleasure to pull in a deep breath, and hold it. The combined effect of the very cool and damp breeze, absence of any traffic or any human being except our party, absolute silence, towering bare and stark mountains covering an already fading sun, the approaching darkness with just our two vehicles at the bottom of the huge valley, did leave a very queer feeling. While we were still at the bridge, the passage ahead at a distance had started to become somewhat hazy. It was the usual evening mist I was told. Its sudden appearance almost coinciding with the sunset was a daily affair. We could experience the temperature dropping sharply and as we got into the jeep the slowly creeping mist had us fully covered. Driving was difficult and gave a feeling of moving through a thick roll of clouds. But as we neared our destination at Khonsa, the mist began to thin out. Instead, there was a strange sight as almost a few hundred flares of the oilfields in Assam had become visible torches in the darkness to light up the entire landscape. The residence of the SP being at a height, offered a panoramic view of the oilfields in the Assam plains. Time spent at Longding was short but the captivating smiles of friendly tribals and the expression of hope in their eyes have left an indelible
impression.
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OPED
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The bard’s political BALLADS
Prasun Sonwalkar
Art and politics have often influenced each other and several of Bhupen Hazarika’s songs stand out not only
because they bridged the regional divide but also because they inspired both nationalism and sub nationalism
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Bhupen Hazarika
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The
cremation of the ‘Bard of the Brahmaputra’ in Guwahati was an emotional and poignant moment for more than one reason. Millions quietly mourned for the man who not only gave Assamese and Hindi music memorable compositions, but also gave Assam, north-east India and Bangladesh a set of values and reference points for the conduct of love and life. It is a remarkable fact that the values and reference points he espoused inspired nationalists as well as current and former rebels, who fought for the secession of Assam from
India.
Many of Hazarika’s Assamese songs were open to several interpretations. They not only reflected the sense of frustration and helplessness over Assam’s problems since 1947, but also inspired those who favoured a violent resolution to those problems, particularly the banned United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA), whose leaders openly mourned his demise and admitted that Hazarika had been a source of inspiration. Assam’s trouble-torn history since 1947 found rich and resounding reflection in Hazarika’s songs, most of whose lyrics were written and sung by himself. His songs, imbued with folk idioms and sounds, not just inspired nationalists during India’s wars with China and Pakistan, but , ironically enough, also secessionists who violently fought for years against the very idea of India that Hazarika celebrated. A significant body of Hazarika’s work was deeply political. The sub-text of politics was clearly woven into many of his songs as Assam witnessed convulsions over the foreigner issue. He contested elections on two occasions, once as an independent candidate and the second time under the banner of the Bharatiya Janata Party. Many of his songs celebrate universal brotherhood and pan-Indianism, but while many know him for his songs in Hindi films, his work also reflected Assamese sub-nationalism, such as the songs composed during the Assam movement in the 1980s.
Political mood
Widely considered as the best known bridge between the north-east and other parts of India, Hazarika’s formidable body of work include themes that inspired ULFA. Mrinal Hazarika, a former ULFA rebel, reportedly said on Hazarika’s death: “His songs have been a great source of inspiration for us to do something for the needy and underprivileged. During our struggle, his songs were a source of inspiration. He was the uniting force of various tribes and cultures of Assam”. In a perceptive analysis tracing Assam’s contemporary politics through Hazarika’s songs, Sanjib Baruah, Professor of Politics at New York-based Bard College, writes that given his pan-Indian stature, it is significant that his lyrics are so intertextual with mainstream Assamese social discourse and its sub-national themes. As he puts it, to say that Hazarika’s music has been very popular among the Assamese during almost the entire history of post colonial Assam is an understatement. Baruah writes in his book, ‘India Against Itself: Assam and the Politics of Nationality’: “One finds in his music the constant reflection of the political moods of the Assamese. Using his lyrics, one can construct an unofficial history of the Assamese nationality its hopes, aspirations, and disappointments. Even the most recent radical and militant turn that Assamese sub-nationalism took in the 1980s...found more than a pale reflection in Hazarika’s music…(His) music, and indeed his entire career, are texts that underscore the compatibility and dialogical relationship between Assamese sub nationalism and pan-Indianism”. Significantly, Baruah points to the fact that ULFA’s place in the mainstream of Assamese public life was reflected in Hazarika’s music. In fact, Hazarika composed an inspirational song in 1968 that anticipated the Assam movement against ‘foreign nationals’. The song’s lyrics celebrate, among other Assamese cultural heroes, Ambikagiri Roychaudhuri (1885-1967), a firebrand nationalist who was jailed during the freedom movement. In the song Hazarika says that ‘we no longer have an Ambikagiri to remind us day and night that our land has gone’. Baruah notes that another version of the song recorded in 1980 at the height of the Assam movement celebrated the ‘thousands’ who were ‘responding to Ambikagiri’s call’. The song revives the sayings of Assamese historical and cultural heroes and stresses Assam’s multi-culturalism: “those who have come from afar and have called the land of the Luit mother are the neo-Asssamese”. Baruah writes that while the 1968 version of the song was a reminder that the calls to action by successive Assamese heroes were unanswered, the 1980 version of the same song celebrates what was then happening on the streets of Assam.
War and peace
During the infamous 1983 elections in Assam, held in the backdrop of massacres and boycotts, Hazarika wrote a ballad, “1983 – the year of the devastating fire – the year of the election”, which describes a ‘little brother’ who was killed. Baruah writes that in the song Hazarika sought to build a collective Assamese connection to a ‘martyr’ of 1983 by evoking ties of family and of a village community. The martyr becomes every parent’s son, every sibling’s little brother, and every person’s friend. The song asks: “My little brother disappeared that year. Do you have any news of him? He wanted to build his country and to secure a happy future for those who live in Assam. He did not want to become a stranger in his own land”. It evokes the emotional connection with a family, and says: “Mother does not eat her food, the village youth all wait for you each day, your sister lights an earthen lamp in your room every day and poor old dad goes to the railway station every day, hoping to find you in one of the trains”. Baruah also analyses and translates the lines of one of his later songs that was set to a martial melody that applauds bravery, sacrifice and heroism: “I salute mother Assam and I dress up to go to war. I salute the river Luit (another name for Brahmaputra) and pray to Goddess Kamakhya; with your blessings and an oath, I am off to war...It is not the time to teach history lessons, it is not the time to take it easy; the enemy taunts us at our gates, leave aside your daily tasks, get ready for war and be prepared to lay down your lives”. Reflecting the turbulent times in the 1980s and early 1990s, when ULFA had unleashed a spree of violence and killings, Baruah writes that one of Hazarika’s songs depicted an Assam where the stillness of death has overwhelmed life: “There is neither joy, nor sorrow. There is no laughter and no tears...There are no rules and no norms...There is only the chess game of death day in and day out. And amidst it, all things of beauty flee in fear”. Also reflected in his songs was the reorganisation of erstwhile Assam into the present seven states in the north-east. In one of the songs, the seven states are portrayed as seven sisters born of the same mother. Baruah writes: “In Hazarika’s lyrics, the undivided territory of Assam is the mother and the breakup of Assam is a story of seven sisters being married away”. The song’s lyrics are translated as: “Mother, we are seven sisters who once played together on the sunny sands of river Luit. Meghalaya went her own way as soon as she was old enough. Arunachal too separated and Mizoram appeared in Assam’s gateway as a groom to marry another daughter”. Tripura is portrayed thus: “I have built my home in the frontier of Bengal to keep an eye on the enemy’s movements...Mother, please don’t leave me out”. The song, Baruah adds, echoes a theme in the ideology of ULFA, and celebrates the reunion of the seven sisters in a new ‘emotional unity’ that is more powerful than the state-drawn boundaries. “The lyrics end with a warning against those – the Indian state seems to be the obvious reference point – who attempt to break this great unity.”
Celebrating nationalism
If Hazarika’s songs inspired Assamese sub-nationalism, even secessionists, his songs also celebrated pan-Indianism, particularly the songs written during the 1962 war with China and another during the India-Pakistan war. Noting the deeply inter-textual nature of Hazarika’s work, Baruah says, “Indeed, his music illustrates the imaginative possibilities of making India’s regional sub nationalism compatible with pan-Indian nationalism. Thus, in a song composed in 1984, he pays tribute to the cause of Assamese sub nationalism in this way: ‘We salute you, O martyr. In order to save Bharati’s younger daughter, you have embraced death’. Bharati – a feminised name for India – becomes the mother of Axomi – a feminised name for Assam that appears in some of Hazarika’s other songs – is the daughter”. Clearly, few of India’s cultural icons have so clearly reflected politics, and guided people through difficult times as Hazarika did in his
lifetime.
(The author is a writer and journalist based in London)
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