Mangalore, Dec 4: Farmers and members of the South Indian Inter-State Coordination Committee of Farmers' Organisations staged a protest by picketing the harbour operated by New Mangalore Port Trust on the outskirts of the city on Tuesday, demanding that India back out from the World Trade Organization (WTO) conference being held in Bali, Indonesia.
Organisations such as Karnataka Rajya Raitha Sangha (KRRS), Hasiru Sene, Tamil Nadu Farmers' Movement, Kerala Cocount Farmers' Association and Shetkari Sanghatana from Maharasthra also took part in the protest.
Prior to the protest, the farmers also took out a protest march from Mangalore city railway station to the port.
The policies of WTO are against the interests of the farmers and below poverty line families in India. A meeting of farmers' organisations of Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Goa and Maharashtra was held in Bangalore on November 17 and 18 and it decided to stage protest against WTO conference, said KRRS working president K T Gangadhar.
India has recently passed Food Security Bill which guarantees food grains at subsidised prices for the poor families. India also procures food grains under minimum support price (MSP) from the farmers when there is fall in the price of agricultural produce. The cap imposed by WTO on its member nations on offering food subsidies and extending MSPs are unscientific, he said, urging the government to boycott the WTO conference in Bali in the interest of farmers.
The protestors demanded imposition of taxes on all agricultural imports so that farmers here would get better profits for their yields.
The ninth conference of WTO is being held in Indonesia from December 3 to 6.
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