Election of Dalit JNUSU president collective victory of 'PDA': Akhilesh Yadav
Lucknow (PTI): Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav on Tuesday said a Dalit being elected the president of the Jawaharlal Nehru University Students Union (JNUSU) is a collective victory of backward classes, Dalits and minorities.
In a post on X, Yadav said, "The PDA unity has collectively won all important posts in the JNU Students Union elections and defeated the BJP-backed ABVP by a huge margin."
PDA, an acronym coined by the SP leader, stands for 'pichhde' (backward classes), Dalit and 'alpsankhyak' (minorities).
The United Left panel on Sunday effected a clean sweep in the JNUSU elections, defeating its nearest rival the RSS-affiliated Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP).
The JNUSU elected its first Dalit president from the Left-backed groups after nearly three decades.
Dhananjay from the All India Students' Association (AISA) won the JNUSU president's post by securing 2,598 votes against the ABVP's Umesh C Ajmeera, who secured 1,676 votes.
Like the students of JNU, Yadav said, the youths across the country will encourage their families to vote against the BJP due to "unprecedented unemployment", "widespread corruption", "expensive education" and inflation under the party's rule.
He also exhorted the youths to remain vigilant against bogus voting at polling booths.
"Stand firm until the election results are declared and the victory certificate is received," the SP chief said.
"Only with this awareness can votes be protected and positive results achieved in the interest of the public," he said, adding that the "anti-youth BJP" will be defeated by their power.
With the Left panel sweeping the polls, the JNU lived up to its reputation of being a Left bastion. The ABVP gave a neck-and-neck fight and was leading on all four central panel posts in the initial trends.
The United Left panel comprises AISA, Democratic Students' Federation, Students' Federation of India and the All India Students' Federation.
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India never offers any duty concessions in dairy sector under FTAs: Goyal
New Delhi (PTI): India has not offered any duty concessions in the dairy sector under any of its free trade agreements so far, including those with the European Union, the UK, New Zealand, and Australia, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal on Monday.
He said India's dairy sector is driven by very small and marginal farmers with limited landholdings who own only a few cattle.
These farmers has a "very" low production and needs to be protected against large farms that Europe, America, Australia, or New Zealand have.
"India has had a very consistent stand in all our FTAs across the world, whether it is European Union, Switzerland... UK, USA, Australia, New Zealand. Never has India opened the dairy sector. Everybody in this room knows it. Everybody in the world knows it," he told reporters here after signing a trade pact with New Zealand.
This is a known position, and there is nothing new in this, he said.
However, he added that as per India's foreign trade policy, the government allows foreign firms to bring raw materials or ingredients into India, process them to make high-quality products and then re-export 100 per cent of those goods.
That product is not allowed to be sold in the country, he said.
"So it doesn't hurt the Indian market, doesn't hurt the Indian farmers, but adds to our foreign exchange income, adds jobs to our youth, provides opportunities for our farmers also to possibly supplement for further re-export. So it's a win-win for both countries," Goyal said.
The India-New Zealand trade pact has an investment arrangement under which firms from the Oceania country can bring raw materials or ingredients from the dairy sector into India, process them to make high-quality products and then re-export 100 per cent of those goods.
These dedicated fast-track arrangements will be used exclusively for the manufacture of products destined solely for export, thereby safeguarding the interests of the domestic industry.
New Zealand is one of the world's largest dairy exporters. Its dairy exports to India in FY25 totalled just USD 1.07 million, consisting of milk and cream (USD 0.40 million), natural honey (USD 0.32 million), mozzarella cheese (USD 0.18 million), butter (USD 0.09 million) and skimmed milk (USD 0.08 million).
Under the FTA, India would grant quota-based duty concessions on Albumins (a milk protein product) and bulk infant formula from New Zealand with Minimum Import Price and other safeguards.
Tariffs on bulk infant formula and other dairy-based preparations, and peptones (a dairy-based product) would be phased out by India in over seven years, according to New Zealand's Foreign Affairs and Trade ministry statement.
