Beas: Hundreds of farmers assembled at Beas on Monday before setting off in a convoy towards Delhi to participate in a mega rally scheduled at Kisan Ghat on July 21. Called by the Desh Bachao Morcha, the rally will protest the proposed India–US bilateral trade agreement, which farmers claim could adversely affect the country’s agriculture and dairy sectors.The convoy, comprising several buses, tractors and other vehicles, included farmers from across Punjab. Members of the Kisan Mazdoor Sangharsh Committee, Kisan Mazdoor Morcha, BKU Ekta Sangharsh, Azaad Kisan Morcha and other farmer organisations joined the march. Farmers from Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Odisha are also expected to attend the rally.According to the organisers, the convoy will halt overnight at Fatehgarh Sahib–Sirhind before entering Delhi through the Shambhu border.Senior Kisan Mazdoor Sangharsh Committee leader Sarwan Singh Pandher said the protesters’ main demand is the cancellation of the proposed India–US trade agreement, arguing that it could cover agriculture, dairy, industry, digital trade, e-commerce, investment and other sectors, opening the Indian market to greater imports of US products.Pandher said the India–US joint statement issued in Feb 2025 stated that both countries had agreed to “negotiating the first tranche of a mutually beneficial, multi-sector Bilateral Trade Agreement” by fall 2025, indicating the pact would extend beyond a few commodities. He said this indicates that the proposed agreement will not be limited to a few commodities.He claimed previous US trade reports had consistently sought wider access to India’s agriculture and dairy sectors through lower tariffs and expanded market access for products such as soybeans, corn, cotton, ethanol, apples, almonds, dairy, poultry and fisheries.Farmer leaders argued that heavily subsidised US agricultural and dairy products could hurt the incomes of Indian farmers, dairy producers, small traders and micro and small enterprises, most of whom are small and marginal landholders. They added that India’s dairy sector alone supports nearly 80 million rural families, and any adverse impact could have far-reaching consequences for rural livelihoods, employment and allied industries, including food processing and seed production.Another farmer leader, GS Chabba, said India’s dairy sector supports the livelihoods of millions of rural families and warned that any policy weakening domestic producers could have far-reaching consequences for rural employment and the agricultural economy.The Desh Bachao Morcha has urged the Union govt to make public all documents related to the proposed trade agreement and demanded that any decision on the pact be taken only after extensive consultations with all the stakeholders.
