TEXT :
16.05 hrs.

SHRI T.R. BAALU (MADRAS SOUTH): Madam, Chairperson, on the other day, I was referring to the fact of mismanagement and maladministration by the people in power, especially, in the National Agriculture Cooperative and Marketing Federation.

Madam, for instance they have applied with the Ministry of Commerce for an import licence. In spite of the instruction of the Ministry of Commerce that the application for import of onion should be made in a particular format, they have not done so because of the reason well known to them. Will anybody believe that a particular national agency, which is NAFED, which is in the know-how of things and formalities pertaining to import and export day in and day out does not know how to apply for an import licence? It is unheard of.

Madam, in spite of this, with all his generosity, the Director-General of Foreign Trade has sanctioned the licence to see that things are going in the right direction. In spite of this hue and cry, the first man who has awakened from his deep sleep was the hon. Prime Minister of India. He took a joint ministerial meeting on the 7th October and discussed how the problem has arisen and what are the remedial measures to be taken up. Only after the Prime Minister's intervention, on the 8th of October NAFED had applied for import licence for importing 10,000 tonnes of onion. In the evening, the Ministry of Commerce cleared it and they got the import licence.

The Delhi Government had applied on the 9th October for importing 3,000 tonnes of onion. They got the licence on the same day. This action should have been taken during the month of August itself or September but things were allowed to go and the price of onion was going up and up unabatedly and it was sky-rocketed from Rs.10 per kilogram to Rs.60 per kilogram.

Madam, I would like to remind this august House about the couplet in Tamil of the great Tamil saint, Thiruvalluvar:

"Seithakka alla seya kedum

Seithakka seyyamaialum kedum."

In English, it means:

"One can lose by wrongs of commission and also by wrong acts of omission."

My submission to this House is this. How the BJP has lost by acts of commission are: (a) announcement regarding granting of OGL within three days from the date of issuance of permit to NAFED and (b) loud and desperate cry of this Government about airlifting of onions from Iran.

The second thing, which I want to impress upon this House is this. How the BJP has lost by wrong acts of omission is firstly the refusal by the Department of Consumer Affairs to extend the counter-guarantee in regard to import of onion to NAFED. Secondly, the Government has exported onion in spite of the crisis and NAFED, as an organisation supposed to be in the know-how to apply for an import licence, have not done so in a particular format.

On the other day, the hon. Member, Shri Vaiko had blamed the United Front Government for which I should be allowed to answer within a minute. Please refer to the Thirteenth Report of the Standing Committee on Energy of the Tenth Lok Sabha. Shri Vaiko has accused the United Front Government by saying that the United Front Government was responsible for the hike in the prices of petroleum products.

07.12.98 Uncorrected/Not for Publication ###

)) This is the Report of the Standing Committee on Energy headed by hon. Shri Jaswant Singh, the new Minister of External Affairs. In his recommendation -recommendation number 99 -- he has said in the oil sector, diesel and kerosene prices, mindful of their utilisation, have to be rationalised.

As regards the LPG, subsidy on LPG should be gradually reduced. This is the recommendation number 104.

Thirdly, he has recommended -- recommendation number 126 -- that the prices of products should reflect the economic cost of supply. This is particularly important if private sector marketing of product is to be promoted.

These are the recommendations made by the Committee on Energy which was headed by hon. Shri Jaswant Singh. But on the other day, Shri Vaiko was accusing me without knowing that he is exposing the B.J.P. Government of which he is a part and parcel as he is one of the allies.