LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
n Sunday, India signed a Trade and Economic Partnership Agreement (TEPA) with a bloc of four European countries — Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland, formally known as the European Free Trade Association (EFTA). The pact has been in the works since 2008 but slipped off India’s todo list after the UPA government’s exit. In market access terms, the deal offers more room for Indian services firms, with easier visa rules, so that they can also tap other European markets using these countries as a base. Professionals (architects, accountants and nurses), can also expect more opportunities. Most goods exports already get dutyfree treatment in Switzerland, India’s largest EFTA trade partner, so the lynchpin in this deal is the inbuilt goal to nudge $100 billion of fresh foreign direct investment into India and create a million jobs over 15 years. Indian consumers can expect cheaper wines and chocolates, while producers may access cheaper machinery. India’s tariff cuts are linked to investment inflows, but a full assessment of those outcomes will only happen after 20 years, so persistent hard work is needed on both sides to realise these goals.
For India, the speed with which the EFTA deal has been dusted off and sealed within months of resuming negotiations is creditable. It constitutes the second major trade pact in recent years since the deal with the United Arab Emirates, and the first such arrangement with a western nations’ grouping. An interim deal with Australia that kicked in late 2022, is yet to be followed through to a comprehensive agreement. Parleys for a deal with the Gulf Cooperation Council, mooted since 2004, are yet to take off. A deal with Canada has been waylaid by political frictions. Talks are on with the European Union (EU) and the United Kingdom, with the latter likely in the last mile. The EFTA deal assumes greater symbolic significance than the size of trade flows involved. It signals that India’s apparent aversion to such trade pacts since 2014, capped by its walkout from the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership in 2019, is likely a thing of the past. A country that has often been criticised for its high import tariffs and protectionist approach, now seems willing and able to walk the talk on free trade when many nations are turning protectionist. The EFTA pact, expected to be ratified by the end of 2024, also marks the first time that India has agreed to include nontrade issues such as labour, human rights, environment and gender in an economic agreement. Whether the inclusion of these issues in trade deals is necessary can be debated, but this is a positive augury for potential allies such as the EU that consider them critical.
OAcquittal
In recent times, the Supreme Court of India has come onto its own in speaking eloquently for people’s freedom and democracy. Justice B.R. Gavai’s statement that there was no urgency in staying Professor Sai Baba’s acquittal is part of this trend. Prof. Sai Baba’s wife standing next to him cheerfully while the Court declined to stay his acquittal is noteworthy. Almost 80% of prisoners in India are undertrials. Their cases need to be disposed of expeditiously. Appeals against acquittals being heard by the Court on a Saturday should also become a thing of the past. It is comforting that freedom is finally reaching a man who is on a wheelchair.
N.G.R. Prasad,
Chennai
Reservation and judgment
My father, M.R.
Veerabadran, was the petitioner (W.P no. 8142 of 87 and WA 1692 of 1987) seeking separate reservation for Scheduled Tribes in Tamil Nadu.
The judgment was delivered on January 8, 1990 by
Justice Sathiadev and Justice (Mrs) Padmini Jesudurai, as V. Vijayamalu (minor), represented by her father and natural guardian, M.R.
Veerabadran (Appellant) vs The Director of Medical Education (Respondent). Senior counsel M.R.M. Abdul
Kareem had argued that
SCs and STs are unequal, which was affirmed by the judgment. The N.M. Thomas judgment was used by the judges in the separate reservation for ST judgment.
V. Karunakaran,
Tiruchi, Tamil Nadu