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Farmers in Bangalore protest against WTO policies

Thousands of farmers staged a rally in protest against the World Trade Organisation in Bangalore on Tuesday, blaming the government's support of the body for their woes.

They waved a sea of green-coloured scarves in a mark of solidarity as a militant peasant leader sought their support at the rally which coincided with the anniversary of the birth of Mahatma Gandhi.

The farmers asked the government to pull out of the WTO agriculture agreement and accused the body of serving the interests of multinational corporations and ignoring the poor.

The rally came one month ahead of the WTO's ministerial meeting to be held in the Gulf Arab state of Qatar from November 9 to 13.

M D Nanjundaswamy, a firebrand socialist who shot to prominence five years ago for leading protests against the entry into India of Kentucky Fried Chicken, a unit of PepsiCo, said a flood of cheap imports and subsidy cuts had hit farmers hard.

"Farmers are complaining about electricity, high prices, the burden of loans, and suicides," the leader told the protesters who assembled in a college playground in India's technology capital after arriving in trucks and buses from rural areas.

"All the problems faced by farmers are because of the WTO," he said.

MANY SUICIDES REPORTED

There have been a number of cases of farmers committing suicide in the state of Karnataka this year, mainly because of their inability to repay loans.

The government of Karnataka, whose capital is Bangalore, cancelled an international film festival in the city this month citing problems linked to a severe drought in the province.

The bearded Nanjundaswamy, who sports gold-rimmed glasses and a trademark green cap, said authorities were cutting back on subsidies for electricity and fertilisers used by the farmers under policies urged by the World Bank and WTO.

At the same time, agricultural imports had led to a fall in prices that farmers received for their produce, he said.

The protest leaders included activists from northern India, Sri Lanka, and the United States.

Activists have been bolstered by the collapse of WTO talks in Seattle in 1999 when developed and developing countries split amid massive street protests against globalisation.

"Protests against the WTO have increased recently. That is why they are now holding their meeting in a desert," Nanjundaswamy said.

Sarath Fernando, a Sri Lankan leader from the Movement for National Land and Agricultural Reforms, which bands about 80 associations, said farmers would use Gandhi's non-violent methods to drive home their agenda.

"Mahatma Gandhi is born again in the hearts and minds of millions of poor people who say we will not allow the WTO to continue," he said.

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