Kerala fishermen protest India-Asean free trade pact
Financial Express, India
Kerala fishermen protest India-Asean free trade pact
FE Bureau
11 November 2009
New Delhi/The Kerala Fisheries Coordination Committee (KFCC) comprising several fishermen unions from the state on Tuesday said India-Asean Free Trade Agreement (FTA) would adversely impact the livelihood of a million fishermen in the state as cheap imports will cut down demand for local produce.
“Despite the inclusion of some fish varieties in the negative list, availability of similar fish varieties in Asean nations would lead to Kerala becoming a dumping ground for surplus from Asean countries,” V V Saseendran, convenor, KFCC said.
He said that after the FTA comes into affect. over 177 species of fish would be imported under zero or reduced tariffs into Kerala. The fisherman have also threatened to demonstrate in front of Parliament on Wednesday in protest against the India-Asean FTA
Although the central government has repeatedly claimed that some fish products are on the sensitive list and thereby won’t be affected by the FTA, the fishermen committee claimed that even a marginal reduction in tariffs on sensitive products would significantly bring down price and impact the livelihood of traditional fishermen.
The FTA signed back in August 2009, envisages total elimination of tariffs on a reciprocal basis and would come into effect from January 1, 2010.
This agreement will result in elimination of tariff in around 3,200 products by December 2013 while tariff on remaining 800 products will be brought down to zero or near zero levels by December, 2016.
The UPA government had claimed that the sensitive list would protect 489 items which includes 303 items of agricultural sector, 81 items of textile sector, 50 items of auto sector and 17 items of chemical sector.
