New Delhi, Oct 21 The All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS) on Wednesday warned of “militant resistance” from farmers if the Narendra Modi government proceeds with the proposed India-US trade deal, alleging that concessions to Washington would threaten agriculture in the country and lead to greater corporate consolidation in the sector.
In a statement, the farmers’ organisation urged the government to reject the proposed agreement, arguing that farmers in the country would be unable to compete with “heavily subsidised” American agricultural producers.
Describing the proposed agreement as a surrender to US interests, AIKS warned the Modi government that it will “face militant resistance from the peasantry if it goes ahead with the anti-national trade deal.”
The farmers’ body also called on its units to prepare for a prolonged struggle against it.
“The ongoing visit of US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and the negotiations he reportedly led with Indian authorities to ‘finalise’ a trade deal between the US and India, demonstrate that the RSS-BJP-led Union government will go to any extent to please their imperial masters,” the AIKS said.
The organisation said Parliament had been kept in the dark about the details of the proposed agreement, even as negotiations appeared to be nearing completion.
Rubio has publicly stated that the deal is “very close”, with the US demand to sell milk products in India emerging as the last hurdle, the AIKS said, adding that Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal had also said the agreement was in the final stage of legal drafting.
The AIKS warned that concessions in the soybean sector could severely affect farmers in major producing states, including Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Gujarat and Karnataka.
“Indian soybean farmers cannot compete with heavily subsidised industrial farmers in the US,” it said.
Opening India’s dairy market without limits would also threaten the livelihoods of domestic dairy farmers, the organisation said, arguing that subsidised foreign production could undercut local procurement prices and squeeze household incomes.
The proposed deal could also put maize and sorghum growers supplying cattle feed, cotton farmers, and almond, walnut and apple producers at risk, it said.
“To put it simply, concessions to the US would result in a dangerous level of corporate consolidation in Indian agriculture,” the AIKS said.
The organisation also criticised the government’s decision in September to reduce the basic import duty on crude soybean oil and palm oil from 10 per cent to 5 per cent, along with cuts in duties on refined oils. It said the move came just as farmers were beginning to harvest kharif soybeans.
The organisation also appealed to farmers to participate in large numbers in the Samyukt Kisan Morcha’s October 23 march in Delhi against what it described as the manipulation of elections.
(PTI News)
