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Farmers hold rally against WTO draft in Jaipur

JAIPUR: Hundreds of small and marginal farmers from 25 districts of Rajasthan took part in a rally organised here on Wednesday to register their protest against a mini-ministerial meeting of the World Trade Organisation planning to conclude the Draft Modalities on Agriculture in Geneva on July 21.

The participants in the long march pointed out that the draft in its present form did not address the concerns of farmers and had failed to show any willingness of the developed countries to reduce their “trade distorting subsidies”.

Farmers, peasants and agricultural labourers carrying banners and placards opposing WTO policies took exception to India’s intention to sign the draft agreement in Geneva allegedly without caring for the country’s food security and livelihoods of lakhs of farmers.

The rally and demonstration were organised jointly by Kisan Seva Samiti Mahasangh, farmers’ groups and civil society organisations. The event was supported by the Centre for Community Economics and Development Consultants’ Society (CECOEDECON).

Kisan Seva Samiti Mahasangh chairperson Badri Jat pointed out that the signing of the draft would render the Union Government unable to take recourse to appropriate safeguard mechanisms to protect the country’s agricultural produce against unfair dumping of cheap imports.

Devinder Sharma of the Forum for Biotechnology and Food Security, New Delhi, said the latest indications were that India had already accepted the draft being prepared in Geneva. Other speakers affirmed that the draft agreement would compel Indian farmers to quit farming and end up as landless labourers. The draft agreement purportedly shows an absolute lack of commitment to abolish the special agricultural safeguards, the missing tariff cap and high share of sensitive tariff lines which contradicts the principle of progressive tariff reduction.

A delegation of demonstrators submitted a memorandum to Governor S.K. Singh and Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje. The memorandum expressed concern over the fact that the State Government had so far not shown any concern over this critical issue.

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