Left sees red over new farm panel

NEW DELHI: The Red cloisters will soon rise in protest against their pet hate —Planning Commission deputy chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia. For, the Plan panel has decided to appoint a committee headed by Desh Pal S Verma, professor in the department of Molecular Genetics and Plant Biotechnology at the Ohio State University, to prepare a report on bringing ‘value addition to primary agriculture’.

There are already murmurs of protests over the move. A meeting of the National Commission on Farmers, headed by MS Swaminathan, last week is learnt to have expressed its unease over the attempts of the Plan panel to ‘appropriate’ part of its project.

According to the members of the Swaminathan panel, the exercise is ‘unwarranted’ as the government already has a report on the subject prepared by Mashelkar. Sources in the government said the appointment of the new panel is in an advanced stage with the Planning Commission seeking the advice of Mr Verma on the terms of reference.

The Left can be expected to come down heavily on the Plan panel as it views Planning Commission’s initiatives with suspicion. The advocates of intellectual autarky in the Left are certain to treat the appointment of the new panel headed by the US-trained professor as yet another intrusion in the policy-making process.

Their hatred for Mr Ahluwalia had found its expression in the note that the Left leaders submitted to the prime minister and the Congress leadership on Wednesday. In the note, the Left leaders said that the Planning Commission has become the “hub for the initiation and pursuit of neo-liberal policies” which go against the spirit of the NCMP.

“The alacrity with which sub-committees were set up by it to follow up on the recommendation of the US-India CEO Forum, with each sub-committee dedicated to one recommendation, speaks volumes about its ideological orientation”.

The Left, in its letter, had also asked the prime minister to get the Planning Commission re-orient its approach in order to reflect the priorities set by the NCMP.