Indian Coordination Committee of Farmers Movements
Road No. 2, A – 33, Mahipalpur Extension, New Delhi – 110 037, IndiaTel: 011 - 26783000, 26784000; Fax: 011-26785001; Email: yudhvir55@yahoo.com
August 6, 2014
To: Shrimati Nirmala Sitharaman,
Minister of State Finance
138, North Block, New Delhi
Dear Shrimati Nirmala Sitharaman:
We are a network of farmers’ organizations in India, comprising of farmers movements from Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, and Maharastra.
We appreciate the Government of India’s uncompromised stand in the WTO and commitment to food security. At the WTO General Council the Government of India has postponed the Trade Facilitation Agreement indefinitely until a solution on public stockholding has been found. We appreciate the roles the Government of India and you have played in this position, and we will extend support to the Government of India for any pro-farmer and pro-poor position you have in the WTO. However, our position since the Uruguay Round has always been that there is no place for agriculture in the WTO, and Indian farmers have been the champion of this fight, both at home and internationally.
We agree with you that a permanent solution on the issue of public stockholding for food security is paramount to trade facilitation. Thank you for taking a permanent stand for India against pressure from developed countries such as the USA and protecting the interests of Indian farmers. Protecting farmers means protecting food security at large for Indian citizens. Recognizing and acting upon this is a first step for seeking justice for small farmers in a body such as the WTO.
However, the WTO is a fundamentally flawed institution that bends the economic playing field in favor of developed countries and large MNCs at the cost of the livelihoods of the poor. Since the creation of the WTO, farmers’ organizations of India have held strong that agriculture has no place in the WTO. Especially for a country like India, which has a majority rural population, relinquishing sovereignty of our food system to the interests of foreign corporations and developed countries will have a fatal impact for our population. To truly take the “farmers’ stand” the Government of India must demand an end to agriculture in the WTO altogether.
The
WTO
has
always
been
the
centerpiece
of
the
free
trade
regime
with
its
multilateral
reach
and
its
special
ability
to
legally
enforce
and
penalize
countries
in
order
to
implement
global
trade
rules.
It
has
been
18
years
since
the
WTO
was
established.
The
multiple
crises
of
finance,
food,
climate,
can
all
be
linked
to
the
free
trade
regime
and
how
it
has
overexploited
the
planet,
pushing
us
into
this
climate
crisis,
poisoning
our
food
and
speculating
on
prices
driving
them
up
beyond
people’s
reach
and
letting
banks
and
transnational
corporations
run
unregulated
pushing
us
all
into
the
brink
of
a
global
recession.
What we need is not more free trade, but rather, a new system, one that is based on peoples’ sovereignty, economic, climate, social and cultural justice. What we need is a trade that is based on complementarity, solidarity and that has at its heart, the peoples’ interests and not that of corporations. We need an agricultural system that is based on food sovereignty and not based on growing cash crops for the markets.
There
are
hundreds
of
alternatives
from
communities,
from
social
movements,
from
peasants,
workers,
women,
migrants,
fishers,
youth
and
economic
justice
activists.
One again, thank you for standing strong for farmers at the WTO and holding back on the Trade Facilitation Agreement in the interest of public stockholding. We urge you to continue to work in the same direction until agriculture is out of the WTO altogether.
Sincerely,
Yudhvir Singh
Convener, ICCFM
Rakesh Tikait,
BKU U.P
Ajmer Singh Lakhowal, State President, BKU Punjab,
KS Puttanaiah,
Karnataka Rajya Raitha Sangha,Karnataka
Chamarasa Patil
Karnataka Rajya Raitha Sangha,Karnataka |
Sh Vijay Jawandhia
Shetkari Sanghatna Maharashtra
S Kannaiyan
South Indian Coordination Committee of Farmers Movements CK Janu Adivasi Gothra Mahasabha P Raveendranath, Kerala Coconut Farmers Association |
Chukki Nanjundaswamy, Karnataka Rajya Ryot Sangha, Karnataka
Sella Mutthu, President, Tamila nadu Farmers Association, Tamilanadu
Nallagounder,
Uzhavar Ulaippalar Katchi, Tamil Nadu Farmers Assocation |
