Indian Agriculture will be completely ruined after the Indo US Trade agreement’s implementation : Samyukt Kisan Morcha
A massive Kisan Panchayat was organized at Delhi’s Ramlila Ground under the banner of the Samyukta Kisan Morcha (non-political) on Thursday, where thousands of farmers from across the country attended.
Despite heavy rains since last night, the farmers’ enthusiasm was palpable, and they declared that they had come to convey their views and sentiments to the Prime Minister of our country. They stood cohesively United and with tremendous enthusiasm.
Farmer leaders said that they had not come today to make any new demands, but to remind the government of the promises made to farmers at various times.
Following the Kisan Panchayat, a delegation from the Samyukta Kisan Morcha (non-political) presented copies of resolutions passed on agricultural and farming demands from thousands of villages across the country to officials at the Prime Minister’s Office.
Farmer leaders pointed out that in 2011, Narendra Modi himself, as Chief Minister of Gujarat, had made a written recommendation to then-Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to enact an MSP guarantee law.
However, 12 years have passed since he became Prime Minister, and he is still not implementing his own report backing out of his previous commitment.
They further pointed out that during the 2014 Lok Sabha election campaign, Narendra Modi had promised to implement the C2+50% formula of the Swaminathan Commission report but now they are breaking promises made to farmers for the past 12 years on that issue.
Farmer leaders pointed out that the government itself admitted in Parliament that between 2014 and 2022, it waived ₹14.56 lakh crore of corporate debt, but when it comes to waiving farmers’ loans, the government says it doesn’t have the budget.
Farmer leaders said that an OECD report indicates that farmers across the country have suffered losses of more than 100 lakh crore rupees due to non-payment of the MSP announced by the government.
On the other hand, Union Minister of State for Finance Bhagwat Singh Karad himself stated in Parliament that the total debt on farmers is only 18.4 lakh crore rupees.
Farmer leaders stated that the proposed India-US trade agreement is a death warrant for Indian farmers therefore, farmers’ simple demand is that the agriculture, dairy, and poultry sectors be excluded from this trade agreement.
If food and agricultural products from the United States enter India without any import duty, Indian agriculture will be completely ruined.
Farmer leaders stated that they are ready to debate with Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on an open platform regarding the potential losses to farmers from the proposed free trade agreement with the United States.
The government should fix a date, time, and venue for that debate. The main speakers today were Jagjit Singh Dallewal and Kaka Singh Kotda (Punjab), Qurburu Shanthakumar (Karnataka), P.R. Pandian (Tamil Nadu), Liladhar Rajput (Madhya Pradesh), Anil Talan (Uttar Pradesh), Rajbir Singh (Uttar Pradesh), Son Bir Singh (Uttar Pradesh), Shivaji Khedkar (Maharashtra), Rishipal Ambabata (Uttar Pradesh), Abhimanyu Kohar, Harshdeep Singh, and Hoshiar Singh Gill (Haryana), Farmer leaders like Baldev Singh Sirsa (Punjab), Kuldeep Singh (Punjab), Harvinder Singh and Sukhpal Daffar (Punjab), Jarnail Singh Chahal and Gurdas Singh (Haryana), Hafiz Khan Mewati, Dilbag Bindal, Jasdev Singh, Anil Jadon, Rama Gounder (Tamil Nadu), Satnam Singh Bheru (Punjab), Inderjit Panniwala and Jagmeet Brar (Rajasthan), Nitin Baliyan (Uttar Pradesh), Rajendra Khalsa (Uttar Pradesh) etc. were present.
