‘US-India trade deal will hurt farmers’

Tribune News Service

Bathinda, February 17

Members of BKU Sidhupur staged a protest here on Monday. The protesters demanded that the Central Government must desist from entering into any trade deal with the US. The farm union members raised slogans against the union government and stated that a trade deal with the US would adversely affect agriculture sector in the country.

The protesters said the deal with the US, that includes agricultural products, would directly affect the farming community. The union members carried out protest march in various parts of the city before submitting a memorandum of demands to Prime Minister Narendra Modi via Deputy Commissioner.

While addressing the gathering, general secretary Resham Singh said, “Increased trade of agricultural products and decreasing export has become a concern for the US and so it is exploring different markets in the world. With such free trade agreements coming in effect, the farmers who are already not getting fair price for their agricultural produce would suffer more. US President Donald Trump would be visiting nation later this month and the main purpose of his visit would be signing India-US trade deals.”

He said, “If the trade deal is signed between the two countries, US based products such as cotton, nuts, walnuts, soybean, wheat, corn, dairy products and poultry products would be sold here on much cheaper rates thereby leading to a large scale dumping of these products and subsequently causing damage to agricultural sector in India.”

The union members also demanded that the Centre must implement recommendations of Swaminathan report and ensure that farmers get remunerative prices for their agricultural produce. On a protest call given by the national body of Rashtriya Kisan Mahasangh (RKM), the representatives of the BKU Sidhupur submitted a memorandum of demands to Deputy Commissioners in various districts.