Raipur: Former Prime Minister V P Singh and CPM (Communist Party of India-Marxist) leader Sitaram Yechuri have appealed to people to oppose the economic policies of the NDA (National Democratic Alliance) government at the Centre and charged it with ignoring the basic problems of the people.

Addressing the inaugural session of the 19th general conference of the All India Insurance Employees' Association (AIIEA) in Raipur on February 9, they also opposed privatisation of the insurance sector.

It was unfortunate that the government was withdrawing itself from education, health, food security and other basic problems, Singh said.

Criticising the international players in trade and commerce sector, Singh said annually $ 362 billion are given as subsidy to farmers by the US and the European countries "but they have been pressurising India to phase out subsidy to farmers here".

"It is unfortunate that while people have elected the government, it is listening more to dictates of World Trade Organisation (WTO) and World Bank," he alleged.

Stating that SITA (socialism is true alternative) is the reply to globalisation, Yechuri said there should be a fight against the economic policies of the Centre and appealed to all sections of the society to remain united in this regard.

PTI