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New Delhi: Dineshbhai Parmar is angry. He receives tonnes of WhatsApp messages and videos every day. Across India, farmers like him across India are rallying against the proposed India-US trade agreement.

In Gujarat’s Sabarkantha, Parmar and hundreds of others have been protesting for over two months now. “We cannot keep quiet about this. India must not be sold like this to Trump,” he said.

Farmers from Punjab, Haryana and across the country have been demonstrating against the proposed India-US trade agreement by the thousands, fearing the deal could open India’s market to cheaper American products and hurt domestic agriculture. Farmers say that the agreement could adversely impact not just them but the entire agricultural chain beyond them – labourers, shopkeepers and finally, the consumers.

They fear highly subsidised American agricultural products could flood the Indian market, driving down domestic crop prices and hurting rural incomes. The pain will ultimately fall on the entire domestic market, Their concern is that Indian farmers, who receive far lower government support than their US counterparts, would struggle to compete.

Poles, politics and policies

In Gujarat’s Morbi, it has been more than two months into farmer protests against the installation of high-voltage transmission lines and electricity poles by the state government on agricultural land.

The project is being pushed by Halvad Transmission Ltd, a special-purpose vehicle of Adani Energy Solutions Ltd (AESL). The 756-kV transmission line will carry power from the renewable energy park in Khavda, Kutch, to Halvad in Morbi, across 246 km.

Local farmers say these installations are not just robbing their agricultural land from them but also handing them poor compensation. On July 4, the government shifted the basis of compensation from Jantri rates to market value and promised upfront payment, but farmers say this resolution burdens them with the economic cost of infrastructure.

Parmar, the Sabarkantha district coordinator of the All India Kisan Sabha, believes that the actual dispute is the Market Rate Committee (MRC), which the government introduced to determine the prevailing market value.

Parmar explained that companies are paying farmers a one-time compensation while using the land for infrastructure that can remain in place for decades. “Modi ji is forgetting that farmers also have rights. This installation of poles for Adani’s company will render land unusable. Besides, transmission lines bring down the land........

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