BHUBANESWAR, SEPT 17: The Swadeshi Jagran Manch (SJM) has called off the proposed Dandi yatra on October 2 following the lifting of ban on the sale of common salt by the Union government.Addressing a press conference, national organiser of the SJM, P Murlidhar Rao, said that the next course of action of the Manch would be to convince all the state governments to lift the ban since all the areas are not iodine deficiency areas.It is now upto the state governments to take a decision on the sale of common salts, he said adding that the SJM was not opposed to the use of iodine salts or imposition of ban on its sale. The state governments are free to legislate rules for compulsory sale of iodised salt in areas identified as iodine deficient areas.Criticising the economic policy of the National Democratic Alliance government led by Atal Behari Vajpayee, Rao said the SJM was strongly opposed to indiscriminate privatisation of public sector units in the name of reforms. This government has not charted out a new economic policy rather it is following the same policy formulated by the previous governments, he added.Clarifying that the Manch is not against reforms, Rao said it would not approve any reforms on the dictate of foreign agencies. The government should review the reforms undertaken in the first phase before entering to the second phase. He suggested for a national debate on the economic reforms before taking any decision.The credibility of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund is now questioned after the debacle of economic reforms in Mexico, Brazil and some South Asian countries. The two global financial institutions are not in the same position as they were in the early 1990s.Asserting that the reforms process has failed in the country, Rao said the latest World Bank report quoting national sample survey has admitted that people living below poverty line has increased to 40 per cent in the country which has resorted to reforms process since 1995.Replying to a question on the foreign investment, Rao said the overseas funding last year was only two per cent of the total investment in the country. The government is misleading the people by saying that foreign investment is badly necessary for infrastructure development while majority of the investment is in non-priority sectors.Foreign exchange reserve of the country is slowly depleting after entry of multinational in non-priority sector. He said the steep hike in power tariff in Andhra Pradesh which sparked off a state-wide agitation is the bane of the reforms process.
