The Convention was addressed by eminent economists Prof.Amiya Bagchi, Prof. Prabhat Patnaik, and Dr.Jayati Ghosh; members of parliament Sri Dipankar Mukherjee and Nilotpal Basu; and scientists and social activists from the Peoples Science Movement like Sri Ashok Rao, Dr.Vinod Raina, Dr.Vivek Monterio, etc. Speakers at the Convention expressed serious concern over the erosion of economic, technological and scientific self-reliance, as a result of implementation of the economic reforms during the last decade.

The Convention noted that the BJP led NDA government has accelerated the process of economic liberalisation, privatization and globalisation. This acceleration is taking place in spite of clear indications that the policy is leading to the increasing pauperisation of the working people in India. Regional disparities, too, have increased which threaten to foment divisive tendencies. There has been a rapid erosion of the spirit of anti-imperialism among the upper classes, along with a growing distancing of their concerns from those of a majority of the Indian people.

Erosion of Self Reliance and Sovereignty

The Convention expressed concern that these trends now threaten the institutions of education, science, industry and welfare—the very pillars which support the nation’s self-reliance and sovereignty. Erosion of food security, health and education services and employment opportunities have led to an actual increase in the number of people living below the poverty line. In spite of the unprecedented phenomenon of good rainfall in each of the last ten years, per capita food availability has fallen. The Indian government, unmindful of the disastrous consequences of its policies, continues to withdraw from vital areas—both in the social sectors and infrastructure sectors. The health infrastructure is in shambles and the educational infrastructure is being gradually privatised. Sectors such as power, telecom, aviation, ports, etc. are being opened up for foreign operators—leading to increased cost of services and abandonment of the concept of cross-subsidisation that benefited rural areas and poor consumers. The government, in these sectors, is now to play the role of a mere regulator, and even here it is beginning to be openly regulated by private sector interests. Sectors such as Banking and Insurance are being opened to foreign and domestic private operators, thereby laying open the possibility of appropriation of the small savings of millions of Indians by these operators.

There are no dearth of examples of the rapidly developing subordination of the institutions of national knowledge generation and utilization system to foreign interests. The latest example is of Sankhya Vahini, a Rs. 3000 crore joint venture between Department of Telecommunications and IUNet, a subsidiary of Carnegie Mellon, in the US. This project will be legally facilitate a one-way flow of knowledge and information from India to the US. IBM, Monsanto, Dupont, General Electric, and many other giant MNCs have been given a free access to Indian S&T institutions to pursue their appropriation of the very sources that can make the Indian economy competitive. They are being allowed to incorporate the Indian S&T institutions in their programmes of pushing hazardous technologies.

Subordination of Indian S&T Capabilities

The policy of turning Indian S&T institutions into a platform for market directed R&D for the private sector industry is fragmenting the longer-term S&T programmes. The much hyped Information Technology Sector is an example of the institutionalisation of an unequal division of labour where Indian S&T capabilities are subordinated to the larger interests of global players. There is evidence that research and development in the Indian private sector, too, has suffered under the economic reforms.

The Convention also noted that contrary to projections by the votaries of liberalisation, the trade deficit soared by about 30% in 1998-99 and exports fell by 3.9 % in dollar terms. The market access of India’s export has also gone down drastically along with the pace of liberalization. The areas where India used to enjoy a greater share of world exports have witnessed a sharp decline. With the emergence of such trends, the government is shifting its emphasis to sectors like food, fruits and aquaculture. This new orientation carries the danger of further jeopardising food security in the country.

Servility to US Interests

The government continues to bend over backwards to accommodate the demands of the developed countries, in fora like the WTO. Under pressure from the US, the Indian government has recently agreed to remove the quantitative restrictions (QRs) on all the remaining import items within a period of one year. It may be recalled that India, under the WTO agreement, was not required to remove QRs till 2003. The impact of removal of QRs will be felt by the domestic industry and especially the Small Scale Sector. Four important bills, related to changes in the Indian Patents Act, were pushed through in the last session of Parliament even while the Agreement on TRIPs was due for a review at Seattle. At the WTO meeting in Seattle, while many developing countries were determined to put up a fight for a thorough review of the TRIPS agreement, the Indian delegation forged an open alliance with the US Government on crucial issues—except on the issue of labour standards, where Indian big business has a clear long-term stake. This servility towards the US is visible today among State governments too. Chief Ministers of many states are shamelessly vying with each other to give the multinational corporations a higher level of concessions with respect to fiscal, industrial and labour policy. The measures that they are willing to implement go far beyond the WTO agreement.

Country is Up for Sale

There are no dearth of examples of privatization of public assets—be it privatization of Education, Law, Insurance, Power, Health Care, Water Supply , Sanitation, Highways or Housing. Assets of even profit making public sector units are being sought to be hived off to private corporations at throwaway prices—in some cases to the major competitors of these public sector units. Major productive assets of this country is virtually up for sale.