NEW DELHI, Sept 2 (OneWorld) - Protestors and agriculture experts Tuesday urged the Indian government to aggressively advocate the rights of cash-starved Indian farmers at an international conference of ministers starting in Mexico next week.
As a run-up to the Cancun meeting of the World Trade organization (news - web sites) (WTO), members of the nationalist Swadeshi Jagran Manch (SJM) held a rally in the Indian capital of New Delhi Tuesday, urging the government not to succumb to pressures from developed countries to open up the agriculture sector.
"The demonstration was held to pressure the government not to take any steps that would harm the interests of India," says Vikas Mahajan, a spokesperson of the forum which has been opposing "unfair" trade agreements under the WTO regime.
The Indian farmer is likely to figure prominently at the conference from September 10 to 14 at the Mexican resort, with more and more agriculture activists emphasizing the need for India and other developing countries to block a United States and European Union (news - web sites) proposed draft that seeks entry of its agricultural produce into other markets.
India, Brazil and China are leading a movement against the EU-US pact that many feel will badly hit farmers, as it will give heavily-subsidized European and American farmers an edge over farmers in developing nations.
"Since our farmers don't get the same advantages as their European or American counterparts, they will be the ones who will suffer once the agriculture market opens up," warns activist Suman Sahai of Gene Campaign, a New Delhi-based organization promoting the rights of Indian farmers.
But, the experts point out, such advantages cannot be given to farmers in countries such as India where 75 percent of the people are involved in agriculture.
Sahai believes India needs to "move forcefully and aggressively" in Cancun to negotiate a better deal for farmers of the developing world.
"Cancun has to be told that we can compete on real terms," she says. "But right now, the terms are totally unacceptable to us," she says.
The New Delhi-based Research Foundation for Science, Technology and Ecology has also been pressing the government to take a strong position at the WTO meeting, arguing that farmers have already suffered losses worth millions of dollars since India began its program of liberalization eight years ago.
The center, which has surveyed losses incurred by farmers in five agriculture sectors, including potatoes, sugarcane and oilseed, says factors such as falling prices and rising imports in India have led to a loss of US $25 billion in just these sectors.
"It is ten times worse when you look at its downstream economic impact," says ecologist and agriculture expert, Vandana Shiva, the head of the foundation.
"The impact on the economy is a lot worse when you take into account questions such as: Is a farmer sending a child to school, buying toothpaste and so on," she says.
Shiva has discussed the issue with Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee (news - web sites) and law minister Arun Jaitley, who will represent India at Cancun. "We are all very worried, and we want the government to say that if WTO is all about dumping, it is unacceptable to us," she says.
The Swadeshi Jagran Manch - an outfit affiliated to the Bharatiya Janata Party, the majority partner ruling India's federal government - says its members' concerns are also being conveyed to the government. "This is the purpose of the rally - to get our point across," says Mahajan.
Shiva estimates about 20,000 Indian farmers have died - mostly due to hunger or by committing suicide - ever since the agriculture sector was hit by severe government measures such as downgrading of domestic prices and removing import regulations.
"As long as such perversions continue, the WTO will not be a fair multilateral trade arrangement," Shiva stresses.