Drop dairy sector from RCEP: Gowda writes to PM

JD(S) national president H D Deve Gowda has written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeking exclusion of the dairy sector from the ambit of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), saying that allowing import of milk products was “suicidal”.

In a 4-page letter, the former prime minister wrote: “If the Government of India does not realize that allowing the import of milk products from other countries is a suicidal step which puts livelihood of dairy farmers at peril, I have no other alternative except to launch country-wide agitation opposing import of milk products as well as boycotting them.”

Pointing out that over 10 crore families depend on the dairying, he said the inclusion of dairy products into RCEP “has sent a panic among the stakeholders of Indian dairy industry as it will have disastrous effects on their business.”