AIKS seeks rollback of tariff relaxation on US products

The All India Kisan Sabha, the farmers' wing of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), has made a strong demand for rollback of tariff relaxations on various US products, including chickpeas, lentils, almonds, walnuts, and apples.

The AIKS said in a statement that India and the US decided in June to resolve pending trade disputes at the World Trade Organisation (WTO), but "in the name of dispute resolution, the central government has surrendered interests of Indian farmers".

Referring to tariff reductions provided by India on some US products, including chickpeas, lentils, almonds, walnuts, and apples, the AIKS sought immediate rollback of the tariff reductions provided to various US origin agricultural commodities, including poultry, apples, nuts, and lentils.

"It also demands that the government should not enter into free trade agreements in agriculture, which will be detrimental for Indian farmers. AIKS reiterates a long-standing demand to bring agriculture out of WTO's Agreement on Agriculture," as per the statement.  "The United States and European Union is known to have used the dispute resolution mechanism of the WTO to raise cases against developing countries to garner compromises to its advantage," it said.

In June, the US and India agreed to resolve six outstanding disputes at the WTO, and India agreed to reduce tariffs on certain US products, including chickpeas, lentils, almonds, walnuts, apples, boric acid, and diagnostic reagents. The AIKS is the largest peasant organisation of the country and had 1,36,85,812 members in 2021-22, according to its website.