India-US deal poses major risk to our health, food security: Farmer bodies

The India-US free trade agreement is a threat to our country's sovereignty, data and digital policy, intellectual property rights, food and health security, and above all, farmers' rights, experts and farmer unions said on Monday.

Speaking at the 'National Seminar on US Trade Deal, Unequal FTAs and People of India’, Vijoo Krishnan, General Secretary, All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS), said the deal will have a cascading effect on the Indian economy, with our food and health security at stake.

"The Indo-US bilateral trade agreement has created an extremely grave situation of the Government of India having succumbed before pressures of an imperial power and endangering the self-reliance and sovereignty of the country. Trump’s declaration shows that the terms accepted in the agreement are blatantly detrimental to the interests of the Indian economy and its farmers," he said.

Prabhat Patnaik, Professor Emeritus, Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), noted that the government has so far only given verbal assurances on the doubts raised by the farmer community in terms of bringing dairy, cotton, or animal feed under the purview of the agreement.

"The joint statement between the two countries, that India intends to import USD 500 billion worth of products from the US over the next five years, is problematic to the core. The government should tell the public the exact outline of such a proposition and how it aims to achieve it. Experts say India’s crude oil import bill could swell by as much as USD 10-12 billion if the country switches from Russian to American crude. Will the government guarantee that this difference will not go from the common man's pockets?" he said at the seminar.

He also said that the total agricultural subsidies provided by the United States are half the total value of agricultural output, adding that cotton farming is hugely subsidized in that country.

"If we compare the situation with India, cotton farmers in our country will be badly hit by the agreement. We are already seeing a sharp fall in cotton prices in the country. It is a shame that India is showing no restraint when fellow countries like China or Brazil are standing up against the US," he added.

Biswajit Dhar, former head of the Centre for WTO Studies (IIFT), claimed the deal can have wide-reaching ramifications for India's digital policy as well as the intellectual property rights.

"It is a direct threat to our food and health security. It may also hurt our country's access to affordable medicines by violating our intellectual property rights. Moreover, agriculture lobbyists in the US are extremely happy with this deal, as they have always sought to corner India on the MSP (minimum support price) and other bonuses given to the farmers. They want India to go back from 'self-sufficiency' to 'ship to mouth' existence," he said.