PPRC, a think tank associated with BJP, blames government for the EU ban on Alphonso

NEW DELHI: Even as the Bharatiya Janata Party moved into top gear for its endgame in the 2014 general elections, it made sure that the true concerns of the Aam Aadmi, or in this case, plain aam or mangoes, were not ignored. A think-tank associated with the party, the Public Policy Research Centre (PPRC), has brought out a research paper where it squarely blames the Union government for the European Commission's (EU) ban on the export of the most khaas mango, the Alphonso, to EU countries.

The government, it says, not only ignored the warnings by the EU on lack of phytosanitary conditions in packaging, but didn't even bother to raise a squeak about the lack of action against Pakistan, which had more sanitary violations against its name.

"The research paper has found that the EU had sent a warning to the Indian government since 2010 on the unsatisfactory phytosanitary conditions. The EU guidelines are quite clear but the agriculture and commerce ministries sat pretty," said Vinay Sahasrabuddhe, director of PPRC. He added that the government had been falling over itself to grant all sorts of concessions to the EU on Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) and did not negotiate even once on the question of export of mangoes.

The EU had banned the import of Indian mangoes to its shores after a 2013 report which showed that nearly 207 consignments of mangoes imported by the EU from India showed infestation of fruit flies and other contaminants.