Farmer body protests India-US trade deal

Amritsar: The Bharatiya Kisan Union (Ekta Sangharsh) on Wednesday protested against the trade deal between India and the United States. The protesters raised slogans against the govt and burnt the effigies of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Donald Trump.Later, talking to the mediapersons, farmer leader Jaswinder Singh said the India-US trade deal would prove to be extremely harmful for India's farming community, dairy farmers, small traders, and shopkeepers. He alleged that the Modi govt bowed to American pressure and compromised the country's interests.According to the farmer leaders, the govt that once called India a "Vishwa Guru" (world leader) now completely surrendered before the US.Farmer leader Palwinder Singh said the public was not given any clear information about the agreement. He said the deal first came to light through tweets from American officials. The govt claimed that soybeans were kept out of the deal, but in reality, soybean oil and corn-related products were imported on a large scale. As a result, the country's farmers were completely ruined, he said.The protesters also pointed out that American farmers owned hundreds of acres of land and received subsidies worth crores of rupees, whereas the average Indian farmer owned only 1 to 1.5 acres of land and did not even receive the Rs 12,000 assistance provided by the govt properly. In such circumstances, Indian farmers cannot compete with American farmers, they said.The farmer leaders warned that if this trade deal was not cancelled, a large and intense nationwide movement would be launched against the BJP govt in the coming days.MSID:: 128205200 413 |