Sangh outfit demands white paper on FDI

NEW DELHI: Sangh Parivar outfit Swadeshi Jagran Manch on Friday demanded a white paper on foreign direct investment and asked the government not to consider the "anti-employment" report of the steering group on FDI.
"The Government should come out with a White Paper on FDI in general and MNCs in particular regrading their performance about exports, employment, local procurements, local contents of technology etc," SJM''s National Convenor Muralidhar Rao said in a statement released at a press conference here.
The SJM, he said, strongly felt that the BJP-led NDA Government should not consider the report of the steering group chaired by Planning Commission Member N K Singh "keeping the long-term interests of the country and its people."
"If this report becomes policy, there will be disruption of economy and large-scale displacement of the people therby creating huge unemployment problem. Our foundations of self-reliance will be badly shaken and sovereignty will be greatly eroded. Ultimately, there will be a threat to peace and political stability," he said.
The panel, which was set up to identify inhibiting factors in the way of higher FDI inflows and suggest policy and governance reforms necessary for attracting domestic and foreign private investment, had submitted its report last month.
Rao alleged the report neither took suggestions from concerned organisations of consumers, small-scale units and labour nor considered social concerns like employment opportunities and indigenous industrial productivity.