Prakash Kammaradi urges CM to convene special session to oppose free trade agreements with EU

Prakash Kammaradi calls for a special session to oppose EU free trade agreements, citing concerns for Karnataka farmers' interests.

Agriculture economist and member of Karnataka Planning and Policy Commission T.N. Prakash Kammaradi has urged the State government to convene a special legislature session, on the lines of the Punjab and Himachal Pradesh governments, to pass a resolution against India’s free trade agreements with the European Union.

In a press conference here in Shivamogga on Friday, Mr. Kammaradi said the agreement would be against the interest of farmers in Karnataka. The Centre had not consulted the States before going for the agreement. “Agriculture is a State subject. Signing the agreements without taking the States into confidence is against the federal principles of the Constitution,” he alleged.

If the agreements came into effect, Mr. Kammaradi said that the farmers of the State would not be in a position to compete with the foreign farmers, who get high subsidies, leading to a crisis in the farming sector. The dairy sector would be badly hit, and the growers of vegetables would lose their earnings.

Karnataka Rajya Raitha Sangha president H.R. Basavarajappa said that the farmers’ organisations had been opposing the trade agreements that work against the interests of native farmers and would continue to do the same.

Environmentalist G.N. Janardhana and farmers’ leader Deva Kumar were present at the press conference.