GULBARGA: The District Non-Governmental Organisations Federation is organising a jatha from Bidar to Bangalore from Friday. The jatha will pass through all the 27 districts in the State to create awareness about the lurking danger to the core sectors of the Indian economy, particularly the agricultural sector, from the conditions of the World Trade Organisation (WTO). The federation wants India to withdraw from the WTO.

Federation President B.G. Jagadish told presspersons here on Thursday that the jatha will reach Bangalore on December 5 where NGOs and farmers will organize a massive protest rally. A memorandum will be submitted to the Union Government calling for the country's withdrawal from the WTO.

CPI(M) support

Maruti Manpade, State Committee member of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), who extended the party's support to the jatha, said the jatha will draw attention to the crucial 6th ministerial-level meeting of the WTO to be held in Hong Kong from December 13 to 18. The meeting, among other things, will discuss the demand made by the developed countries to withdraw subsidies extended to the agricultural sector in developing nations.

Mr. Manpade said that the U.S., which is leading the G-7 campaign for withdrawal of subsidies for agriculture, is not ready to withdraw the high level of subsidies that it pays its own farmers. Under the provisions passed by U.S. lawmakers in 2002, farmers in that country will continue to get subsidies for their produce till 2012, Mr. Manpade said.

He said subsidies to the farm sector in the U.S. have a cumulative impact on markets in the developing countries where cheap agricultural commodities dumped by the U.S. drive down prices of produce grown locally.

Mr. Manpade said the Indian Government should ensure that the 6th ministerial-level talks in Hong Kong fails in the overall interests of the country's farmers and so that subsidies given to the agricultural sector continue. Any withdrawal of subsidies under pressure from the developed countries will spell doom for Indian agriculture, he warned.

Disagreement

He, however, disagreed with the demand for India's withdrawal from the WTO and said it will be very difficult for India to come out of the WTO. The country should stay in the WTO and fight for its rights, the CPI(M) leader said.

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