‘Apple growers may have to launch protest like farmers’ agitation to protect their interests’: Himachal Minister
Horticulture Minister Jagat Singh Negi feels apple growers may have to launch a protest similar to the farmers’ agitation against the three farm laws to protect their interests from the impact of various trade deals.
“Around 700 farmers sacrificed their lives to force the government to withdraw the three farm laws. Apple growers may have to look for similar methods to put pressure on the government and save their livelihood,” said Negi.
Currently, India and the US are busy giving final shape to an interim trade deal in New Delhi. A joint forum of apple growers from Himachal Pradesh, Kashmir and Uttarakhand has already shot off an open letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, urging him not to accept any condition in the deal that could compromise their interests.
Reiterating that a reduction in the import duty on US apples would shatter the local apple economy worth Rs 5,000 crore, Negi termed it a betrayal of growers. “When Modi was contesting the 2014 elections, he had promised to raise the import duty on apples from 70 per cent to 100 per cent.
However, his government first reduced the duty to 50 per cent, and now the US is forcing the government to reduce it to the minimum,” said Negi. The Minister further claimed that the deal with the US was not bilateral but unilateral, with the US dictating the terms.
Negi pointed out that Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu had consistently raised the issue with the Centre, but to no avail. “If the Centre continues to ignore the genuine concerns of farmers, they may have to resort to democratic means of protest to protect their interests,” he said.
